My Story.
I remember the first time I had a lesion, I was 11. So what do you do as a child, poke at shit. I poked, picked, and squeezed until the blood and puss stopped, and my skin was redder than ever! Now I know that is a big no no.
The first time I went into the doctor for my HS (before I knew it was HS) they made an incision and filled the wound with gauze for three days. Although it was on my panty line I showed all of my friends. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I loved gross stuff like that. Cuts, bruises, blood, scars, and all that jazz. I guess maybe a bit of a tom-boy quality.
The next time a lesion showed up I was a bit more concerned. I had just gone through growing and changing in 7th grade, learned about all of the STD's. So what did I do? I ran to my mom telling her I needed to see a doctor. Weirdest conversation, telling a pediatric doctor your 12 year old thinks she has an STD. Welp, I didn't. I left thinking I had warts. Yes doctor told me I just had a wart. The fukk?
Anyways, years went on, more of them started to show up. I popped them and moved on with my life. I went to the doctor a total of 8 times, all leaving thinking I had something different each time. (Great health care, right).
I went into the doctor my sophomore year in high school, saw this oldddddd man. He had probably been in medicine since Lincoln was president, and he was gonna be looking at my down stairs? Yeah right! I showed him my underarms with a quick flash and he didn't even hesitate to tell me he thinks I have HS. I was like um okay old man, whatever. We looked it up and when I did a ton of research I had that moment where I felt relieved to know I am no crazy, and dirty, and weird, that this was actually something. Something that didn't have an explanation, but it had a name. Oh and btw, I wrote the amazing doctor a thank you letter.
I went to my first derm appt. They were nice and talked to me, but were very quick to write a prescription and send me out the door. I took numerous antibiotics that didn't change anything. I can't even count how many steroid injections I have gotten. All they did was create worse scars and more pain. Getting poked and pushed out the door is getting really old. I was referred to surgery, met with a plastic surgeon and he said he hasn't done surgery on HS in over 15 years. I have been told by dermatology, pediatrics, general and plastic surgery that they have ran out of options.
I use hibiclens on a regular basis, which does help with open lesions to stop pus and reduce a little bit of inflammation. I also take zinc and vitamin E daily. The problem I am facing now is that the HS in my groin has become stage 3 and is constant. They are no 'flare ups' because they are always there and growing, and new ones appear, old ones scar. For the past two years, I had some problem areas in my armpits. I could feel grape size bumps under my skin. Over the past few months they are surfaced. They open and ooze, and spread down side to the point I can barley wear a bra, or even clothes. The lesions feel like golf or even baseballs under my skin. My arms and legs go numb sometimes from constriction. It's rough!
At the moment I am changing everything. I already don't eat fast food, or drink soda. I am a red meat vegetarian, have been since I was a kid. My goal is to work on little to no sugar, organic only, fruits and veggies everyday, and tons of vitamins. I'm using tea tree oil and aloe Vera on the areas. I am going to do anything to make this better! And my vegan mom is going to help me a lot!
The past couple days I have definitely been down, due to the fact of having to quit my job, missing school, a rough break up, the chance of not graduating, and to top it all off my skin got 10 times worse in such little time. I have never let my skin and pain stop me from making memories with friends, going to dances, and being a teen. I always appear happy, and bubbly. I pride myself on being outgoing, making new friends, and having a great personality. I am not going to let HS stop me. I am going to turn 18 in a month, graduate beauty school and high school in may, take my state boards, become a licensed cosmetologist, move out, meet someone, and have a wonderful long life.
The first time I went into the doctor for my HS (before I knew it was HS) they made an incision and filled the wound with gauze for three days. Although it was on my panty line I showed all of my friends. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I loved gross stuff like that. Cuts, bruises, blood, scars, and all that jazz. I guess maybe a bit of a tom-boy quality.
The next time a lesion showed up I was a bit more concerned. I had just gone through growing and changing in 7th grade, learned about all of the STD's. So what did I do? I ran to my mom telling her I needed to see a doctor. Weirdest conversation, telling a pediatric doctor your 12 year old thinks she has an STD. Welp, I didn't. I left thinking I had warts. Yes doctor told me I just had a wart. The fukk?
Anyways, years went on, more of them started to show up. I popped them and moved on with my life. I went to the doctor a total of 8 times, all leaving thinking I had something different each time. (Great health care, right).
I went into the doctor my sophomore year in high school, saw this oldddddd man. He had probably been in medicine since Lincoln was president, and he was gonna be looking at my down stairs? Yeah right! I showed him my underarms with a quick flash and he didn't even hesitate to tell me he thinks I have HS. I was like um okay old man, whatever. We looked it up and when I did a ton of research I had that moment where I felt relieved to know I am no crazy, and dirty, and weird, that this was actually something. Something that didn't have an explanation, but it had a name. Oh and btw, I wrote the amazing doctor a thank you letter.
I went to my first derm appt. They were nice and talked to me, but were very quick to write a prescription and send me out the door. I took numerous antibiotics that didn't change anything. I can't even count how many steroid injections I have gotten. All they did was create worse scars and more pain. Getting poked and pushed out the door is getting really old. I was referred to surgery, met with a plastic surgeon and he said he hasn't done surgery on HS in over 15 years. I have been told by dermatology, pediatrics, general and plastic surgery that they have ran out of options.
I use hibiclens on a regular basis, which does help with open lesions to stop pus and reduce a little bit of inflammation. I also take zinc and vitamin E daily. The problem I am facing now is that the HS in my groin has become stage 3 and is constant. They are no 'flare ups' because they are always there and growing, and new ones appear, old ones scar. For the past two years, I had some problem areas in my armpits. I could feel grape size bumps under my skin. Over the past few months they are surfaced. They open and ooze, and spread down side to the point I can barley wear a bra, or even clothes. The lesions feel like golf or even baseballs under my skin. My arms and legs go numb sometimes from constriction. It's rough!
At the moment I am changing everything. I already don't eat fast food, or drink soda. I am a red meat vegetarian, have been since I was a kid. My goal is to work on little to no sugar, organic only, fruits and veggies everyday, and tons of vitamins. I'm using tea tree oil and aloe Vera on the areas. I am going to do anything to make this better! And my vegan mom is going to help me a lot!
The past couple days I have definitely been down, due to the fact of having to quit my job, missing school, a rough break up, the chance of not graduating, and to top it all off my skin got 10 times worse in such little time. I have never let my skin and pain stop me from making memories with friends, going to dances, and being a teen. I always appear happy, and bubbly. I pride myself on being outgoing, making new friends, and having a great personality. I am not going to let HS stop me. I am going to turn 18 in a month, graduate beauty school and high school in may, take my state boards, become a licensed cosmetologist, move out, meet someone, and have a wonderful long life.
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