Day 289: Look Ma, No Rash! (photos)

A few months back, I visited my GP for the first time since starting TSW. You can read about it here, but in a nutshell she said I either have really bad eczema and possibly ringworm on my abdomen. I still make the o_O face whenever I think about that because what I had looked nothing like ringworm. Ringworm has...you know...a ring.

Courtesy of WebMD

What I had did NOT look like that at all. The derm said it was eczema and even took a biopsy to "prove" it to me. It came back as spongiotic dermatitis which is typical for Red Skin Syndrome patients. It's just another word for eczema/atopic dermatitis. Another word for "you have a rash, I don't know why, but it's not contagious."

I was four months in when I saw these doctors and since then, I've watched the rash on my stomach/side slowly shrink and lighten up to an almost normal skin tone (which for me is ghostly white). The other day while getting dressed, I noticed it was barely visible! Before and current pictures after the jump...!

I actually forgot just how angry my skin looked then until I looked at the old picture. The picture on the left is from month 4 and the rash was all over my sides and stomach. It itched like crazy then hurt even worse when I scratched it. It sucked! I am glad it's gotten so much better and all I did was...nothing. NOTHING! I just stopped using topical steroids and waited for my skin to do its thing. If I had any doubts about having topical steroid-induced eczema, they are gone now when I see these pictures! Can't wait until all of me is a before-and-after!