There are certain parts of life where I can be very vain.
On one hand, I do not care about my scars on my stomach. I was lucky and had incredible surgeons who cut around my belly button to help preserve it, and my scars have healed well overall. But I have several scars. When I was young I sometimes thought twice about wearing a bikini, but I decided that it did not and should not matter.
My body gets puffy, I have spider veins on my legs, I have stretch marks from puffing out and being on Prednisone, and my skin issue cause constant abscesses. Those only bother me once in a while, and I have multiple ways of hiding those issues that bother me.
Things like hyperhidrosis and a spider angioma on the tip of my nose? Yeah - those bother me.
My hyperhidrosis was so bad that within five minutes of wearing any kind of shirt, I would have saucer stains under my arms. My underarms would drip with sweat all day every day. I only wore huge sweatshirts or black. Nothing tight. Ever. I tried all of the conventional treatments and things like using this crystal anti-perspirant then wrapping them in saran wrap all night. I used the clinical treatments to the point of severe rashes under my arms, and then STILL dripped like a faucet. (Which wound up being painful because of the salty sweat).
The spider angioma wasn't bad for a long time. For years it was just this little red spot under the skin and was nearly imperceptible. It kept growing, though. By the time I finally sought some sort of intervention for it, it basically looked like a witch's wart on the tip of my nose and, because it thinned out the skin there and protruded from underneath the skin, makeup would not stick to it. I could not cover it up, no matter how expensive my foundation was. Even professional makeup artists could not manage to hide it.
So, for the hyperhidrosis I sought out a plastic surgeon to see what could be done. That appointment made me feel more self-conscious than ever. Understandably, the doctor walks in and immediately does a once-over, trying to figure out what I might be coming in for. (The assumption was a breast augmentation). With that said, he was incredible. It is simply his job to inspect a person's physical imperfections. He explained that we could remove the sweat glands under the arms and that it could improve the sweating by up to 70%. There is always a chance that they could return and there was a chance that it wouldn't work at all. This was the surgery where I was awake watching him burn off my sweat glands. Super cool surgery. The surgery itself was a bigger procedure than I had expected, which resulted in a much more difficult recovery than anticipated.
100% worth it. My underarm sweating has been reduced by 80% or more and has yet to return. It has been nearly 10 years since that surgery!! The hyperhidrosis was definitely more of an inconvenience than a painful illness. It affected every part of my life though, from simple things like clothing, to intimacy, confidence, and I was always buying tons and tons of products to help hide it, along with ruining my wardrobe on a regular basis.
For the spider angioma, I did a few things. At first we tried to simply cut it back. Unfortunately, the freezing did not take as much effect because of medications that I am on, so it started blanching, and after cutting it back, it was completely returned within days. We tried once more, but that was once again unsuccessful. Then I was sent to a dermatology clinic that provided some laser treatments. The particular treatment that was done was essentially a tiny little blunt hammer. A frozen hammer. So, with a machine, the angioma was simultaneously frozen and hammered with great force. It works by shocking it so that it retreats inwards and shrinks at the same time. It causes bruising, of course, and that lasts for about a week or two, but it worked!! I had to go twice in order for it to take full effect, but then the results lasted nearly 3 YEARS!!!
Now the spider angioma is back. Same location. Same issues. It has been 'growing' over the past year, and is now starting to become tougher to conceal.
We have a wedding coming up in September.
A bright red wart-like protrusion that is impossible to conceal is something I would prefer to fix before the wedding day, if I can. Sure, I understand that it is motivated by vanity... and frankly if it were on any other part of my body I would not think twice about it. Even if it were elsewhere on my face, I may not worry about it. The tip of the nose though?
Well, it might sound ridiculous and petty to someone else, but for our wedding day I would definitely prefer to have it fixed. I do have these on other parts of my body - my legs have a bunch of em - along with other more personal areas. The one on my nose is the only one I am interested in shocking back inwards. I mean, if there is a treatment that works and is accessible, why not?
So although these two issues are not serious, at all, they were still issues I pursued treatment for. It will be one less thing to worry about. I mean, I worry about a dozen different illnesses that affect my life every single minute of every day, why not reduce my worries by two small portions if I can?
:)
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