Over the past couple years, I’ve realized how important it is to take care of your skin — after all, it IS the biggest organ in your body! I’ve been pretty fortunate for the majority of my life and only suffered the usual skin mishaps: a zit there, some spots here. It wasn’t until I had Collette that my skin drastically changed and I figured out just how important it is to pay attention what you’re putting in your body as well as ON your body.
I’m gonna get right to it and get real up close and personal here. The other day I had a major breakout all over my body. I’m talking like head to toe, overnight, full-on eczema breakout. I headed over to my dermatologist to see what I could do about it, and I’ll be sharing with you guys over the next couple weeks some of the trials and tribulations of finding the right treatment — it’s such a process!
How crazy is this breakout?! At least my pants are cute! Gotta look on the bright side, sometimes!
This rash was literally everywhere!
If you’re unfamiliar with what exactly eczema is, the medical definition from WebMD is this: “Eczema is a term for a group of medical conditions that cause the skin to be irritated or inflamed. About 3% of adults are affected. The exact cause of eczema is unknown, but it’s thought to be linked to an overactive response by the body’s immune system to an irritant.”
What’s interesting is that usually, eczema is itchy, even before a rash develops. And as you can see, it can affect the pigmentation of your skin — if you have lighter skin, the rash can appear to be a muddy brown color; if you have darker skin, the rash will often be light and cause discoloration in that sense.
I felt like this was the only way I could cover up the breakout on my face — where are the real life Snapchat filters when you need them?!
After doing a little sleuthing on the internet, I’ve found that other moms have had this problem as well — suddenly, after giving birth or even becoming pregnant, their skin does a complete 180. So, why is that? Changes in hormones have a huge effect; but it’s also deeper than that. Your environment can trigger a break out — how crazy is that? Also, what you put on your skin can really trigger a break out, which brings me to my next endeavour!
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to start really investigating and diving into the ingredients that are in the products I use and what kind of harmful chemicals are really hiding in makeup and beauty products — even the ones that claim to be all natural.
If you’re suffering from eczema or any other type of skin flare up, the most important thing is to not worry! It’s totally normal and happens to almost everyone at some point in their life! We’ll totally tackle this together — check back next week for an in-depth look at how harmful some of the things we put on our skin actually are!
