IT’S RAINING (SKIN) FLAKES

Although I’ve had my itchy skin since I was a mere ‘toddler-Pyra,’ it didn’t enter into its current flaky evolution until the past year. Itchy skin without dryness? I swear it! But I don’t remember much how that strange phenomenon existed because it never bothered my life. I just remember my skin was not the smooth, one-toned appearance of my peers… and it was definitely not at the level it is now.

Skin flakes.

That’s not a scientific word but it’s a good description.

It began last year with more wounds appearing as a result of my itchiness. The wounds would turn into scabs. The scabs would get peeled off by more scratching. Within six months my entire skin—scalp to toes—looked dry, felt dry and was dry. I had crispy skin!

In the past year I’ve gotten a little better but I still get itchy and my skin is still dry despite my ongoing efforts (a continuously evolving, 10+ part skin routine… but that’s a topic for another time)

Back to skin flakes.

Like… if I still stay in one place long enough then stand up, I’ll realize I’ve left a trail of skin flakes on the seat.

Flakes - Pants top

I’ve learned to limit how many black shirts I wear… and jackets… and skirts…

My morning routine now includes dusting off my bed and shaking my covers. Then I get the broom and sweep everywhere until a tiny pile of what looks like ‘a cremated Pyra’ forms. Then I do this again in the evening. For the same reason, I now keep a mini vacuum at my work space.

I noticed when I’d leave my cell phone face up nearby long enough, a thin collection of ‘dust’ would gather on the screen. It’s become routine to quickly blow air upon my screen before use.

My nails constantly collect the same ‘dust.’ I try to wear nail polish to conceal that.

Flakes - Pants Side

Some areas of my body result in more skin flakes than others. My elbows and wrists produce the thick, actual flakes like small paint chips. My neck and back deliver more of a fine skin powder. So far all areas of my body seem to deliver something.

And yet… I am much, much better now than I was in summer—can you imagine it? It was three times the flakes… three times the itchiness… three times the dryness. I guess my skin routine (and medication) are working!

I actually posted the video below back in October but forgot to blog it. In re-watching it, I can tell my skin has improved again within the past two months; half the amount of skin flakes now.

Although it’s somewhat staged (c’mon, I just happen to have a nice camera around during one of my itchy episodes?) it’s still very reflective of a multiple-times-a-day occurrence.

Can you relate in this embarrassing struggle?

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s