I resisted photographing myself during the course of the week, preferring to wait until I had seen Dr Hussain on Saturday and hearing his verdict. It's difficult to know how one is ' doing ' with no direct comparisons and I have veered between a vigorous optimism to snivelling despair. He , as ever , was beamingly delighted.
At almost 4 weeks ( on Monday ) I could say that my face had begun to unfreeze and that the tingling sensation in my lip, cheek and nose ( strangely ) had increased , leaving me with greater movement and sensation. He was pleased, saying that this was ahead of schedule. He was also pleased with the healing of the scar and declared that the time had now come for the next stage .....
..... Which meant that I could now begin to massage the scar lightly and perform gentle stretching exercises of my face in order to increase blood flow to the wound, thus aiding a more speedy recovery. This should be done 3 times a day for 3 or 4 minutes at a time. There are lots of oils on the market to do this and it seems that everyone swears by the preparation they used. Dr Hussain's view was that it didn't matter what emollient was applied - Dermatix ( a silicone based gel available on prescription or to buy at Boots or the like ), Bio Oil, Vitamin E or Vaseline . He said that it was the ACTION of the massage which yielded the results, not the oil, and that the majority of his colleagues agreed with this.
Dr Hussain described the tissue beneath the surface as being rather like cold plasticine .In order for movement to return ( and presumably to encourage sensation to return ), it needs to be manipulated and made more malleable . That's where the massage and face stretching comes in. By face stretching I mean wrinkling the nose, opening the mouth wide, moving it from side to side. So glamorous !! I've been doing it in the car, much to my Husband's horror, but I'm a big fan of multi tasking, and let's face it, it's a better use of time than complaining about the endless roadworks or debating, again, about Household Cutbacks. If only I could add my pelvic floor exercises and get a pair of cymbals ( remember those toy monkeys ??!!) it really WOULD be time well spent. Profitable AND entertaining !
Right, well. I've gone off piste . Back to it.
I didn't register this but my Husband did. Apparently Dr Hussain said that at 4 weeks I could not damage the stitches. I did however read on the Dermatrix website that one should avoid extremes of heat and cold and of course , our dear friend, the Sun. To be frank, on the odd occasion that it has been cold my face has begun to smart so I've covered the wound with a scarf by instinct . Also that same natural reaction has meant that my baths are cooler than usual and , pleasingly for my Husband, the thermostat has gone down a degree or two.
I asked about exercise and going back to yoga. Down dog and any movement which sends a flood of blood to the face is still a no. For at least another 4 weeks. Im Sad about that as I've really missed the stretching but I'm going to adapt, at home. He did say that the exercise bike was ok but I'm not a fan. Better to be outside and walk for me.
SPOTS . I have had a couple of small, white headed spots on the side of my nose which, if I'd been a fool, I could have burst with the use of a cotton bud. Which OBVIOUSLY ... I did , then hastily dabbed with Sudocrem. Dr Hussain said that this was fairly common ( not being a fool, I didn't confess to that ) . He said that the area around the dissolving stitches inside offer ' threw up ' a spot
but it was nothing to worry about . I did admit to the Sudocrem and that was fine. I won't be bursting
the spots again though.It made the skin sore and the Sudocrem made my eyes smart on application and the massaging uncomfortable . Lesson learnt.
I decided that, as Bio Oil seemed to be popular, I would get some. Being me and never one for half measures, I bought a big bottle. Which was a mistake because I don't think my skin likes it at all. It went very red, as Dr Hussain said the area would with massaging, but in a stingy, irritated way.
These are the pictures from Sunday morning after several rounds of massaging.
I wasn't very happy on Sunday. Only a dog walk to Bolton Abbey would do and even then I felt very conscious of my face. Hence hiding behind Daisy.
Dr Hussain did say that I can put foundation and concealer over the wound now. I tried some of my Estée Lauder concealer stick but it was a bit too thin and felt uncomfortable . I've found an alternative but I'll cover that in the next blog.
So... I've given up on Bio Oil and will asking Boots for a refund - so brave am I - and I've asked for a prescription for Dermatix . I'll let you know.in the meantime it's back to Vaseline to massage and I've decided not to cover my scar unles it a VERY IMPORTANT OCCASION and there's not many of them !
Here's me - 4 weeks to the day. Make up on but not on the scar. Liveable ??
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