Friday, May 11, 2007

A Rash Decision

I have always been told I had very nice skin. I have lots of freckles (and had normal acne in school years), but I always get nice compliments on my skin and I never understood why. I don't really notice people's skin all that much, just the general look they present i.e., do they wear just enough makeup to look nice, or too much where it looks trashy, do they take good care of their skin and at least make an attempt to cover blemishes? I can spy a good makeup job a mile away even if there are bad skin problems.
Now, lest you think I am overly vain, I'm going to post this picture...beware, it's pretty gross:



I KNOW!
Totally disgusting (and not the most attractive camera angle *HELLO NOSE* either). This rash is like little, tiny blisters all over my skin and it's not getting worse, but it's not getting any better. I got it from stupidly changing my face cream at night. I tried this free sample I got from Sephora and didn't wash my face the next day (last Sunday, I had already gone to church and I was just hanging around the house all day) so it had plenty of time to really soak in and cause this truly hideous, nasty rash all over my face. Now I know what the lepers must have felt. Now I know how depressed people with bad skin problems must feel. I know my rash will clear in a couple of weeks, but some people live with bad skin their whole lives. I am going to pray especially for those people this week. I know we shouldn't judge people by how they look but let's face it, (pardon the pun) the face is the first thing we notice about most people. A nice smile, pretty eyes, and clear skin are signs of good health (ever see a pic of a person on meth?) and when we see someone that is unpleasing to the eye, we tend to take longer to warm up to that person which isn't fair, but that's just the way it is. You can bond more quickly when you can meet and hold their eyes or look at their face without concentrating on one, eye catching flaw.

I get to pour wine at a local jewelry shop tonight and I will be paranoid the whole time that people will look at my skin and think I'm always like that (yeah, I'm not going to win the "most humble person of the year" award) I'll just have to suck it up and take the humility as a small sacrifice and remind myself how much much worse it could be...burns, disfigurement, pocks from acne scarring, skin cancer, measles, black eyes or bruises from abuse, loss of eyelashes and eyebrows from disease or radiation poisoning...now THAT is true suffering. I promise I won't hide my face or make the "I have a rash" excuse and draw attention to it like I've been doing all week. After thinking about all of those things I just wrote, I'll take this small suffering any day!

P.S. I've tried cortisone cream, anti-itch (Benydryl), washing my face, drinking lots of water...I think the only thing that will kick this is time...but if you have any suggestions, I'm open!