Admittedly, my face hurts

(227/365) "Darlin' don't you go and cut your hair, Do you think it's gonna make him change?"
You can see the brown spots and freckles on my cheek more on the black and white photo than the color one since my bangs are so long..

I’d noticed in June this year that the generic Mircette birth control (Viorelle) which CVS had switched to in April, seemed to be causing splotches of brown on my face – in particular, around my mouth, and I didn’t like it. I called my gyn’s office, and had them switch me to WalMart instead since they had Azurette, another generic that I’d tried in the past and never had issues with before. At first the lady at the doctor’s office who answered the phone didn’t want to go through the hassle of calling in my prescription someplace else, but I basically told her I didn’t want to have blotches all over my face for the rest of my life if all that has to be done is to call in a prescription someplace else. So she did it. So, yay.

I made an appointment with Dr. Carolyn Mai, thanks to Yelp.com because I felt self-conscious about the brown spots. I saw she didn’t only do laser, but also gave some people makeup and brown spot remover… So, that’s what I’m doing right now. She was surprised at my age, and thought I was a lot younger. At one point, I heard her say I looked like a baby, which made me wonder how old she is since she looks pretty youthful to me. Her skin, is of course, pretty flawless.

Anyway, I came home with stuff for my face that I have to apply twice a day. In the mornings, I wash my face as usual and then rub this fade pad (1/2 pad since I have a small face according to Dr. Mai) all over my face, and then I use this spf 50+ sunscreen she gave me. She said if I was going to be in the sun all day as a student, I should apply sunscreen again at 12noon, and then at 3 PM for when I drive home. I’d heard this before about applying sunscreen multiple times in the day. So, I’m giving it a shot. We’ll see how I do once school starts. At night, I wash my face as usual, then apply the fade pad again. Then something called Renew 5x, and twice a week I throw in some kind of acid peel wash thingy which will exfoliate the damaged skin. She’d warned it might turn red and start getting irritated. Last night was my 2nd time trying it this week. It feels like I have a little sunburn on my cheeks this morning, but no biggie so far. When I finish the container of fade pads, she said my brown spots should be gone. I seem to have enough to last me 4 months. As maintenance, she says I would have to keep up with the sunscreen and renew 5x which she makes in her office… and I think I’d still have to do the exfoliation peels twice a week… not sure. She claims a woman who sees her is 60 years old and has no wrinkles because she does all this and walks with an umbrella (I refuse to do that). Sounds like a lot of work for a low-maintenance person like me. But. Hey. I’m almost 40 years old and still single, so… shit.

I have some age spots on my cheeks, along with freckles, and sun damage. I also have sun damage on my nose, forehead, and other areas of my face. I don’t wear any face makeup other than eye shadow and lip balm, so I’m trying to take care of my skin. I hate wearing makeup on my face, and don’t plan on starting any time soon. I do believe in taking care of my skin, avoiding skin cancer, and think I’ll feel better when the brown spots are removed a bit. In a weird way, I like some of the discoloration since I think it makes me look more interesting. Dr. Mai did warn that I can negate everything by spending one epic day at the beach in the sun, so at least it’s reversible.

Just thought I’d post about this for anyone suffering from brown spots, melasma, sun damage, etc. Will let you know if anything good or bad happens.

UPDATE: 8/30/13: I called Dr. Mai yesterday evening since my face had become red, and I had some little scabs. She said to stop doing the renew 5x at night, as well as the exfoliation twice a week. Instead, I should continue use of the fade pads and when my face gets better, slowly get back on to the renew 5x (twice a week), and then slowly introduce the acid peel exfoliation once a week, and then twice a week as my skin gets more and more used to it. She said scabbing is not usual. I had tiny scabs all over my face. I had also put the stuff on my neck, to which she said not to do that anymore, since apparently the skin there is too sensitive. Will update again if anything changes.

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