A different kind of spring cleaning

Gallery

Posted on by

No boogers! Source: POPxo

When you get to be a certain age, spring cleaning takes on a different meaning. It doesn’t involve a house. (I’ve stopped that kind of spring cleaning ages ago!) It involves cleaning up the skin for the warm weather.

This time of the year I visit a dermatologist to get the new crop of barnacles removed.

Every year there are new ones. Some are silly skin tags right where your necklace lies. Some are the gray fussy keratosis that itch. Then there are the darker raised ones that look like moles but not near as attractive as those you find on models.

This year I decided that in addition to the barnacles, I would get some brown spots taken care of. It looked like a bunch of freckles that had grown together. (Mom called them liver spots but they are freckles!) That group took a laser treatment.

Yikes! That sucker stung. What I didn’t expect was that my face would blow up and look like Charlie Brown. I’m used to getting things frozen or sliced off. This new experience paralyzed me with anxiety.

I didn’t know what to expect. Everyone tells you something different. I went with the doc’s explanation that I’d be able to tolerate it. I was. He said I would swell. I did. He said it would work. I’m hoping he’s right there too.

There were some high points. Since it was on my face, there was no need to disrobe and freeze in a cubicle. The appointment was timely. I was in and out quickly.

As is always the case when I subject myself to misery of any sort (including a bad haircut) there was a special trip to Starbucks. (Chocolate makes a lot of things better.) And there was no bad haircut.

This was my first experience with a laser treatment and if this works out, I would do again if I had to. Don’t plan on doing anything afterward except Starbucks.

This is the beginning. I have to go to a different doc to get the barnacles frozen off. This year’s crop isn’t too big but there is a big dark booger on my leg. I hope it’s not serious.

For that treatment I will need to completely disrobe, will be placed in a freezing meat locker with a paper sheet to wait for the doc and pray they don’t forget me. I take a body map with me because I’m not very articulate when I’m naked. (I’ve blogged about that before here and it hasn’t changed at all.)

So…which is worse – a zapping laser or naked in a meat locker? Both rate a Starbucks mocha.

56 thoughts on “A different kind of spring cleaning”

  3. A few weeks ago I went to the dermatologist for a check-up. She didn’t find any skin cancer, and she didn’t suggest anything for my spots, barnacles, or broken capillaries. I guess I should have asked. Do you go to a regular dermatologist to get your “spring cleaning” or to someone who does cosmetic work?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  8. As long as you are only naked while waiting, and not while getting x-rayed, you can wear a morning gown (you could bring one with you, so you do get as cold. It is far easier to wrap out of that when the doc finally has time for you.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • I have been lucky. Many of my friends have had various kinds of skin cancers. One of them died from it as it wasn’t discovered until it had spread through his system (this was back in the 80s when people weren’t so vigilant). Glad that your husband’s were all caught. Some require extensive surgery. That’s not fun.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

  10. I’ve been fortunate so far at 65 years of age. I have just a few very small skin tags. I am usually fighting dry skin which I have had a long time.
    I think I’m going to do like Billy Crystal the actor. He said he is getting used to being older, he doesn’t shower all that often, he just goes about every 6 months and gets sand blasted.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply ↓

  12. Thank you (again) for the morning smile, Kate!! Reading your posts are a great way to start the day.
    BTW- I totally agree with your equation: “Starbucks + Chocolate = Well-Deserved Reward”.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

  14. I have just started to notice broken capillaries on my face. I found out I had rosacea back in my late twenties. I have used Metrogel for years for the rosacea… makes me wonder about what causes the broken capillaries. I started using CeraVe moisturizer in December when my old and fatihful moisturizer was new and improved and my face didn’t like the improvement. I wonder about the CeraVe because it has niacinamide and I think niacin and think flushing and think … broken capillaries. Kate, I would be interested in what you use for a facial moisturizer… 🙂 CeraVe was what my dermatologist suggested, but… not in love with it. I have to be hauled to the dermatologist kicking and screaming.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • My old derm doc recommended CeraVe too. It’s in a tub and very greasy so I wasn’t fond of it for my face. I don’t like greasy face stuff because it gets my super oily hair all greasy. It was sitting on my dressing counter so I started to use it on my legs to get rid of it. I use a vit. c serum and a niacin serum booster. I haven’t noticed flushing or any more broken capillaries since starting that a few years back. I have 2 moisturizers. One is very creamy (think more winter-cold weather) and its $$ but my favorite is Boots No. 7 Protect and something serum. I have it in a stand up pump container but I saw that there is something like it in a tube too. Haven’t tried that. Up until this trip, the docs always said I didn’t have rosacea. I don’t have flushing but I get red dots and the broken capillaries. Maybe everyone does.

      Like

      Reply ↓

      • Thanks Kate. I googled Boots No. 7 line of facial products and I was impressed with the reviews. It is available at all our local Walgreens. I am going to give it a try! I use a lightweight moisturizer from CeraVe in a pump container called PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion. You can use it both morning and night. I also use their Skin Renewing Cream Serum. Yes, I think the broken capillaries come with getting older and rosacea.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply ↓

  15. I would make that a double Starbucks of your choice. Mom did the same a couple of weeks ago. Not the spring cleaning – but that’s soon when she shaves the forest off her legs. This was for x-rays after her car accident. Disrobed in a gown that barely wraps around and then put on a steel cold table which reminded mom of a morgue table – shivers to mergatroid. Then the guy with extra cold hands positioned her body in the most awkward of all positions and stated, “Don’t move”. Okay wise man you are not the one laying on a sheet of cold trying not to freeze her goodies off. Just sayin’. So no shivers and hold your breath for what seems like an eternity waiting for those glorious words of, “You can breathe now.” Shaking my head. Poor you and mom. Both of you hate these things just as much. Hogs and snout kisses. XOXO – Bacon

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  16. I have rosacea, and so I’ve got my face zapped a few times. I bruise easily. I looked like something out of “Night of the Living Dead” the first time. The next time I scheduled it for Halloween and people stared a lot less.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

    • The plan for this was mid winter. It took months to get an apt with the new doc and then another month for the procedure appointment. Now I know. I don’t know how this will go. He said I would only need one treatment but he didn’t say per year, per decade or per lifetime. Nothing lasts forever.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply ↓

  19. Hmmm. I’m familiar with the freezing approach, and I’m familiar with lasers for rosacea treatments but not for barnacle removal. Interesting. Will file this information away, and should I ever get another appointment with a dermatologist, because around here it’s about year wait to see one, I’ll ask about the laser. Also, I’ll invest in chocolate before I go.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

Don't be shy, I'd love to hear what you're thinking!