Distraught

Wednesday. My face was feeling tight. Didn't think much of it.

Thursday. My face was dry and tight. I looked into the mirror. It was slightly red and puffy too. I decided not to use any make-up that morning. I slathered my face with more moisturiser than normal, and went to work. After being in the air-conditioned environment for the whole morning, my face felt painful. It stung, was a bit itchy, and I felt uncomfortable. I had a bottle of hand lotion on my table and I couldn't help but apply some of that to the dry parts of my face. On the way home from work, I bought Cetaphil Moisturising Cream at Guardian Pharmacy. As soon as I reached home, I washed my face with my usual cleanser. By now, my face felt extremely rough, and it was sensitive to touch. I applied Cetaphil, and it did relieve me of the tightness and pain. However, it still looked red and puffy and swollen.

Friday. I went to work, bare-faced. No make-up. Only Cetaphil. By now, people were noticing and started asking. Hmn ... my face was a darker shade than it usually was, a bit swollen. It felt like it was stretched tight, and parts of it were painful. After work, I came home and I harvested a stalk of Aloe Vera from the garden, and massaged my face with its gel. As soon as the gel dried up on the face, however, the skin too dried and tightened. So I slathered some Cetaphil. Looking into the mirror, yeah, the face was puffy, red, dry, the fine lines visible, the pores were prominent. That evening, even Mom noticed something abnormal with my face. Mom's the least observant person I know. Heh. Dad said it might be an allergy. Mom gave 101 reasons for the cause, including body heat, toxins from the body, radiation from my gadgets. Sigh. Mom's not being very logical. But then, Mom's remedy was propolis - supposedly good for many ailments. 15 drops of propolis in a quarter cup of water. It tasted very bad. But I was willing to try anything to make my skin better. Looking back, my face was at its worst on Friday night.

Saturday. Mom brewed a big pot of chrysanthemum tea, to dispel heat in case I was too heaty. My face was not as swollen. It was still dry and tight and scorched. It felt rough to touch. It's chrysanthemum tea and copious amounts of Cetaphil the whole day. In the evening, I took propolis again.

Sunday. I felt better. The face wasn't as tight - still dry, but there was improvement. The pores were less prominent. It still looked scorched though. Today, Mom made mung bean soup with honeysuckle flowers. She said it was good to dispel heat and toxins from the body. I drank a big bowl gladly. I harvested another stalk of aloe vera to rub on the face. Third day on propolis.

Sunday night. I was organising my purse and my handbag for school the next day. And I discovered that I'd lost my credit card. It wasn't in my bag. It wasn't in my car. It wasn't in the dustbin. I panicked. I tried hard to recall the last time I'd used it. That's right. It was on Thursday when I bought Cetaphil at Guardian Pharmacy. I must have been too preoccupied with my face to think straight! Even now as I tried to recall, I really had no idea whether I took back my card or not. I think I did .... or did I? Hmn .... or perhaps I misplaced it ... or it dropped ... sigh ... I had no memory whatsoever.

Anyway, I checked on my banking website, and was relieved that there hadn't been any suspicious transactions. Thank God for pin-protected credit cards! I contacted the bank immediately to have it blocked. Phew!! But then, a replacement credit card would cost me RM50. Darn.

***

My skin had never been known to be sensitive. Most beauticians would say that my skin was dry. I agree. But it had never been this dry before. When I came back after holidaying in Chengdu 2 years ago, I remembered my cheeks got so dry that it hurt. But it was  quickly cured after a few days of moisturising it with Rosken.

I was thinking back and there could have been a number of contributors to this crisis:

1) Aging - the skin loses more moisture now that I'm older. 

2) Harsh cosmetics - I'd been using the facial foam that sil left behind in the bathroom. There's just a little bit left and I thought I'd finish it before throwing the bottle away. So I had been using it before throwing it away on Wednesday morning ... ; Last Sunday, I dug up a clay mask and applied it on my face .... Then either on Monday or Tuesday morning, I used quite a substantial amount of serum on my face. So these were the 3 products that could have been the culprits. If so, this would be the first time in my life that I'd have such reaction to otc cosmetics .... That serum I'd been using all this while though .... hmn ....  

3) Allergy from insect bite - on Tuesday afternoon, I was bitten on my right thigh. I distinctly remembered the incident - I was online checking out air tickets while whatsapping my friend AL ... and I distinctly remembered feeling itchy around the thigh. I scratched and applied ointment on it. Early Wednesday morning, I woke up with a start and started scratching the back of my right thigh, just near the knee ... then I went back to sleep. The next morning, I felt 2 hard lumps, one on the thigh and one at the back of the thigh .... I applied some ointment and then the lump subsided. I checked online .... and my wound looked like spider bites .... hmn .... 

4) Sunburn - I walked the short distance from the car to the bank on Monday. I remembered feeling hot as the sun bit the unprotected skin on my face and arms. I'd have to carry umbrellas around next time .... 

5) Hormonal imbalance? Sigh. The period is late. 

6) Stress?

***

Sigh. Of all the possible reasons, I think the most likely one was chemical burn due to cosmetics. If the condition does not improve, I'll have to visit a dermatologist.