My Contact Dermatitis Journey
I've been waiting for my skin to heal for 2 months now to be able to write this blog post. When I tried looking into others' experiences with contact dermatitis, I couldn't find much except for one in-depth video by Morgan (video down below) which I found helpful. So I wanted to share this not only because this is skincare-related but because there are just not a lot of people out there who share about their experiences in depth. Please note that there are some not-so-flattering pictures/descriptions. So just brace yourself if you're faint of heart. Here's what happened+pictures:
Late December, I slathered on a new moisturizer from Grown Alchemist (read review here), and after 3 days, I developed a reaction called "irritant contact dermatitis". For those of you who don't know already what it is or have never had it before, it's a temporary condition caused by direct contact with a substance/allergen. It's characterized by itchyness, redness, dry and scaly skin, and bumps and blisters. I had all of the above. I don't consider myself to have sensitive skin since I've never broken out or had an irritation from other makeup/skincare products. So this was a complete surprise.
*Unfortunately with this reaction, the key to healing your skin is time, which was the exact reason why I didn't go to a dermatologist. In my mind, she probably wasn't going to do much for me except control symptoms.
Phase 1 (3 days):
This is the part when I didn't know I had an allergic reaction yet (hence there's no picture). My face felt a little itchy, but I didn't think much of it. However, I felt suspicious about the product and stopped use after 3 times. Apparently contact dermatitis may not be immediate; it may take a couple days for it to develop.
Phase 2 (1 month) :
After a couple days, my skin began to feel very itchy, dry, and red. It was the worst around my eyes, cheeks, and chin areas (although it affected my entire face). This phase was the worst and lasted the longest,increasing in intensity for the next month or so. (It SO reminded me of the junior high days when I first developed eczema on my face. But thankfully the dermatologist helped with that.) Everything made my skin feel stingy & itchier: washing my face, going into the shower, and even every single strand of hair that happened to touch my face-I was irritated by all of it. Of all the skincare that I've been using, nothing made my skin feel better. My skin felt that sensitive. It was so frustrating because there wasn't much I could do rather than to wait it out and continue my skincare routine. I tried not to rub or scratch my face, but it was hard not to (especially in the shower).
I tried all that I could during this time. But the skin barrier was severely damaged, so much so that it couldn't even retain in all of the products I was slathering onto my skin. I increased the number of steps in my skincare routine, even layering on essences multiple times to replenish it. I also used the thickest moisturizer I owned as a last step, the Fresh Ancient Acienne Cream, plus Marula Oil to seal everything in, but none of that lasted for more than an hour. It became even more clear to me that if your skin barrier isn't able to do what it was designed to do, no other product(s) can ever replace that.
Phase 3 (1 month-ish):
The itchyness is still there, but the redness has subsided a little bit. My skin is still parched! I literally woke up some days with intense flakiness everywhere which was too horrifying to capture on camera in my opinion. (All these pictures were taken after skincare routines so it doesn't show the intense dryness) I was so surprised at how dry my skin was even though I did my entire skincare routine+sheet mask the night before. I thought to myself "wow this is how those with intense dry skin feel". Even the skin under my eyebrows flaked so much so now my eyebrow hairs are patchy. Ugh.
Because I had so much dead skin flaking every day, it did clog my pores and cause some acne. I did exfoliate more often to counteract this, which helped a little! But because of the acne I did get to test out different brands of acne patches, which was a blessing in disguise I guess.
****As my skin was healing, I tested out the Cosrx Lightening Liquid mixed in with moisturizer to dilute it. One time when I mixed it with my Innisfree serum (less diluted), which aggravated the contact dermatitis and delayed the healing process even more. It ended up setting me back a couple weeks.
Phase 4 (currently after 2 months):
By now my skin is no longer as red or itchy, nor is it sensitive to water or the application of products, which tells me that for the most part, my skin has healed. However, there are still a few flaky dry patches on my face and still scarring from scratching, peeling dead skin off, and acne (I know, it sounds just lovely huh! And tsktsk on me, shouldn't have done those things but I did.) On top of that, I also developed wrinkles under my eyes from the rubbing. :[ Lesson learned to tie my hands together if my face ever get itchy again.
From now on, I'll continue plan of care (POC) by reinforcing skin barrier & treating remaining scars.
Some advice if you ever struggle with this:
Be patient. I know it sucks. But there's literally nothing else you can do to speed up the healing process. Just a lot of fighting for joy and not letting this affect your mood.
Continue your skincare routine and adjust as needed. Even though products didn't last long on my skin, I still did my best to double cleanse, hydrate, and protect my skin (+SPF). If you don't do this your already-damaged skin will be even more exposed to harsh conditions you put it through everyday.
Always patch test! Even though the moisturizer that caused all this had all natural ingredients, natural doesn't always mean good. There are many, many natural irritants out there that can cause contact dermatitis. So always patch test, even if you don't think you have sensitive skin!
Of course, don't rub/scratch your skin. It's SO hard not to, but just restrain yourself as much as you can. This is where perhaps the dermatologist can come in and recommend a steroid cream/prescription anti itch ointment.
Use an in-shower mask so your skin doesn't become even more dehydrated. What I did is I repurposed a thick ampoule and slathered it on after double cleansing and for the remainder of the shower.
Try not to wear makeup. I didn't want to anyway because it could potentially accentuate the flakiness. But on top of that let your skin breathe and heal before you put anymore on the skin. Try to limit the amount of new products you use and stick to your tried and true products.