Dermatologist update- good news

It looks like my emails to anyone I could find in the dermatology dept of the local hospital have paid off.  All going well I should be seeing a dermatologist in the next couple of weeks rather than August.

Between dermatologists

I’m reluctant to write this post as it may come across, especially to my foreign readers, as knocking the NHS.  I want to state for the record I think the NHS is a fantastic service, it is one of the best things about living in the UK and it needs to be defended and supported.

Now ive got that out of the way, the last time I saw my old dermatologist was Christmas Eve.  I then moved to Newcastle at the end of January and signed up with a new GP.  My GP said it may be about 3 months before I got to see a dermatologist and I got a letter on 11^th February telling me I was on a waiting list and to phone back in 6 weeks’ time if I hadn’t heard anything.  So I phoned yesterday and was told it will probably be August before I get to see a dermatologist.  AUGUST!!!!

A couple of things to note:

• -          I realise my skin is improving in leaps and bounds at the moment, and its not like I need the kind of support I needed this time last year
• -          I know the NHS is stretched and these waiting lists exist for a good reason
• -          But AUGUST!!!!!????

So I have been in touch with the following people to see if they can help:

• -          My old dermatologist via his secretary
• -          My GP surgery
• -          The Dermatologist department at Newcastle RVI

If anyone else has any suggestions, please let me know.

Look at my belly

So other than the occasional vain selfie there hasn't been a photo for a while. So here is my chest and belly. As you can see the islands of soaring have spread to the point where there is now a web of red.

Sweat

I'm sweating! Not all over but my legs, the sides of my stomach, the middle of my back, my nose, my hands and around my temples. It takes work for me to start sweating. 45 min spin class followed by 15 mins in a sauna. But the fact that I am sweating is an important step on the road to recovery.  

My chest is still red and blotchy and my face and scalp are still flakey. But things are heading in the right direction 

not much to say

Well life is still a bit messed up. A month after moving from Blackpool to Newcastle and so far living on my own isn’t as scary as I thought it would be. My life seems to be becoming more and more of a crap soap opera. But anyway this blog is about my skin so heres the update. Legs still looking good, face and scalp still flaky. Thats it.

Update- good and bad

Legs – looking really good.  With everything going on I hadn’t really noticed until now but my legs look pretty much back to normal.  They are back to their pastey white colour. Having said that they still don’t sweat, but a hell of a lot better than they were.

Stomach/chest – Still red which white islands of sparing.  Getting more of these islands, which is good.

Arms – Like the stomach, reddish with islands of sparing. Also there are various geometic lines all over my arms.

Face – I have noticed a lot of relatively big flakes falling from my forehead on to my nose or glasses.  They might be tiny to everyone else, but from my point of view each one is the size of a car. I am constantly wiping/cleaning my glasses.

Scalp – Itchy and full of flakes.

Year one

I am not sure what day I first  noticed the itchy flakey scalp. I first went to the doctor on 16th Feb 2015, so i think my symptoms must have started around the 10th Feb. So that makes this the one year anniversary, more or less. 

It's not been the best year of my life. Having said that I will count my blessings. I have never been in a lot of pain with the Prp,  the skin on my feet never became so bad I couldn't walk and in general things are improving.   

Rather than reflect on the shittyness of the last year, let's have a general update.  My scalp has been very dry and flakey, and over the last couple of days I've noticed my face become a little more flakey, but other than that, no real change. 

I joined a gym recently and yesterday I did my first spin class in over five years.  It was knackering but, because of the Prp, I didn't sweat, which seemed particularly odd.