I was 14 years old when my skin problems began. My face started getting covered with rashes from allergies. A dermatologist prescribed me a cortisone cream (a substance known to cause skin hypopigmentation in persons with a pre-disposition for the condition) to clear the rashes. Unaware of the risk, I followed the dermatologist's instructions and applied the cream daily.In about a week, the cortisone cream had bleached my skin. I had developed three large white patches on my face: one on each eyelid and one large one, from one side of my chin to the other, and going up my right cheek. Then it hit me: I had been a victim of medical malpractice. The dermatologist had inadvertently prescribed me a cream with a serious side-effect on people with pre-disposition to skin hypopigmentation.
Seeing myself in the mirror was unbearable. The contrast of the all-white patches was obvious and VERY noticeable. I cried for months and refused to go to school or even see my friends. I couldn't look at people in the eyes and much less get a boyfriend. No make-up could hide it, and I was too young and too naive to know how to apply it. I lost many precious moments of my teenage years to the condition.
My journey for recovery was long and tortuous. Prescriptions have made me noxious and have gave me stomachaches and headaches. Topical creams have caused me second degree burns several times.
For the past three years I had pretty much given up. I achieved a lot of improvement, but at a price too high to pay. The side-effects were too many and too serious , for little or no improvement.
I met, however, someone who loves me the way I am, and who encouraged me to continue to pursue perfection.
I am now 26 years old, and for the first time, I believe to have found the solution, and I would like to share it with the world in this blog.
