Stagnant.

Things have been pretty stagnant for a while now.  Besides a few flares, my skin has looked basically the same for 5 or 6 months now.  I'm starting to get very frustrated with things.  Back in April, I was ecstatic to be looking and feeling this good because it was so much better than the first couple of TSW months.  But 6 months of feeling/looking this same exact way.... it's too much.

I have had a handful of "good days" (days where my skin wasn't a huge bother during the day & I felt energetic) but, for the most part, I've had a pretty constant run of "bad days" (in which my skin was nearly-always a bother, constantly on my mind, & low energy) for a while now.

What confuses me is that I only used steroids for about 1.5 years.  They say that healing from TSW should only take about 10-30% of the time that you used steroids.  So why am I already at 8.5 months and still feel like I have at least 6 months until my skin can recuperate fully?  Perhaps it's because I had a course of oral steroids and 3 steroid injections on top of the topical steroid usage (all within a year and a half)?  Perhaps these are the reason that it's taking my body so long?

My original rashes (pre-steroids) appeared on my legs & back about 3 years ago.  (The rashes only spread to my other areas after the oral & injection steroids.)  Well.... these original areas have been mostly-healed for MONTHS now.  It's my face, neck, chest & arms which are still my worst areas.  (As a note, my arms/hands are the least bothersome for me that I hardly ever mention them... even though they're not pretty).

Well, enough talking about things.  Here's some pictures taken over the past few months.

This is what my neck typically looks like during a flare.  Lots of bumps under the surface of the skin.

Very sensitive.  Even the smallest hair touching my face/neck drives me up a wall!

This is a normal day.  Just a really flakey face and a pink neck/chest.

I considered this an okay-looking day.  But I remember feeling extermely hypersensitive this day.

This was a flare.

Looking paler/smoother.

I miss having smooth skin on my hands.  They used to look feminine.

This is a typical day of what my arm looks like.  Still have a "pink sleeve."

My hands usually look like this.  Sometimes they look worse but it doesn't usually last very long.

This was a good day.

Not a good day.

I was happy that my chest was looking paler, but upset that my face was so dry that morning.

This was a really good day!  My face was dry but my skin didn't bother me very much at all!!!  We actually ate brunch at a restaurant!  I was able to find "acceptable" food on the menu!

This was two days ago.  One of my piano students asked if I had gotten sunburned. :-/

 Meh.