Tuesday, March 18, 2008

It Can Happen To Anyone

I had a bit of a scare recently. I'd picked up a bad little inflammation on the back of my left hand sometime around the beginning of winter which would itch crazily and no matter what ointment I tried, always reappeared after a couple of days. Something similar happened above my left eyebrow and just below the tip of my right earlobe though these weren't as visible as the one on my hand pictured here.


Then my arms began itching too, and a similar skin inflammation appeared on my right hand. I'd tell friends and neighbours about it, and one said she'd had something similar on her back, just below the right shoulder which turned out to be a spot of ringworm, and someone had made a concoction of garlic and ginger and zapped it away, although it had stung terribly. Ringworm? We did have 4 dogs so it seemed quite possible, I thought. But we'd always had lots of dogs around the house for the last 2o years so why now?

Finally, after one night when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep in an agony of itching and irritation on my arms and feet, I consulted a dermatologist. To my complete shock, she said it was caused by sun exposure and asked what sunscreen I used. I said I never used any. And that's the truth. I've read a lot about sunburns, skin cancer caused by harmful UV rays, the importance of using sun protection etc. In fact while I'd been waiting my turn to see the doc, I'd been reading an advert for a new brand of sunscreen in a magazine. But somehow I'd never imagined it could happen to me. I hate gunk on my face in the daytime. Gunk as in wet stuff like moisturizers, creams, lotions etc. I always felt they clogged my pores and suffocated me. The doc clucked incredulously and disapprovingly and gave me a couple of tubes of sunscreen and a hardy skin ointment plus a strip of anti-allergy tablets, it being the dry season around this time with lots of allergen-laden air in circulation.

Well, they worked like magic. The inflammations on my hands have subsided dramatically and I think I've had an incredibly lucky escape.


Needless to say, I now use sunscreen scrupulously. Though I still love the sun and sunshine I'm now very conscious that it can be a silent killer.

23 comments:

  1. gud dat u went to a doc...

    Mizo chu ngaihdan in damdoi ei top leh inhnoih top kan hraat lutuk a (keimah pawn ka hraat)...a thra lo ka ti bon...

    lo dam var var wroh

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  2. I kept telling myself to see the doc...she's been our neighbour for years, but I just HATE going to the docs, hate hanging around in the corridor waiting to go in etc etc. Ka thatchhe em alom. Nia Mizote hi a cause leh factor dang dang ngaihtuah tel miah lo hian dd in chawh ve tawp kan ching hi chu a ch.k hna lo ngot mai. Ngaihtuah chian hi chuan a den tawp.

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  3. A zialo kher mai. Kan khawvel boruak in lumlet mekah hian kan in enfiah a ngai takmeuh toh ania. Ozone hole avang chuan skin disease chu a tam ngei dawn a, hei bak pawh hi natna kan neih belh zel ang tih a hlauhawm ta. A pawimawhzia hriain khawvel midang te chu an phu suau2 e.

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  4. A common bon top. Hetiang hi, thak thut thut hi. A bikin puitlingah (lo haw kher lo la :P) Ka nu pawh kha a vual thak vak thin a, zanah hian. A hiah hian a vual zual zel thin a. A inentir thin a, a ngeih ta aniang, a reh ta hmak.

    And I hav sunspots way back in my high school days. A thak ve lo a, engtinmah a awm lo. Just that, a colour tlem a in change. Chu chu, doctor hnenah ka inentir a. Exposure to sun vang tho, this has nothing to do with white spots a tia, ka lawm rip. Chuanin, hei hi chu mihring zawng zawngah a awm a, mahse mihring thenkhatah hian a langsar bik a, chu mai mai chu a ti. A lawmawm lamah ngai zel ang...

    Nang pawh lo dam zel roh. Damloh hi chu a thralo ania.

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  5. Ozone pawp vanga skin diseases tih dam dan lo siamchhuak ula nangni scientists bawn ho hian, vana :)) Nia hei ka hlau hnuhnawh ther ther khawp mai.

    Joseph, yes, as we age, our skin loses a lot of elasticity and a dry ta em em bawk a, zawngte ang hian kan in hiat leh neuh neuh zel anih hi, poiness. Eng ang nge sunspots chu? And enge white spots? I thought white spots were sth only women had hehe. Thank you, nia kan hre hma hlauh a ka dam leh thuai ang chu :)

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  6. Oops! Better the dermatologist than the high priest to pronounce you a cure or cured. Thought it looked like the cold sore that shows up on the lips. While on the guessing game, i have my chips on mathlengi being the doc.

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  7. sunspots chu tetlai a hmai rau kan tih ang deuh chi kha... vun a rawng a inang lo a.. chu chu ni mai.

    white spots chu vun var natna kan tih ang chi kha ni hmiang ka ti mai.

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  8. tsk tsk! I must scold you for not using sunblock all that time! (hehe, i know you're using one now)I have a long and boring history of problems with my skin, especially when it comes to exposure to the sun. I can totally empathize with the agony you must have undergone. This past winter, I think I sunned myself a bit too much, I had something very similar to what you described, only it was on my face! Thankfully, am ok now, but it's always a little dicey when the sun's out in full force. Hope you're all better now.

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  9. Health tips lamah kan kai ta a ni maw? A tha viau bawk e. Hman laia Afghan Snow kha a la awm ngai em le?

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  10. Yep, bang on target, philo. Guess you know a lot of my neighbours :)

    jazzmatazz, chuks chuks, induhness.com

    father my son, hmai rau hi sunspots ang chi maw? A ro vanga rau emaw ka lo tia. Kan naupan lai chuan buhfai bar hian hmai a rau duh an ti thin.

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  11. daydreambeliever, I'm finding the reapplying sunblock after every so and so hours a m-a-j-o-r drag. How do you do it at work when you don't have your dressing table and all the magic pots and stuff at hand?!

    haha samuelapa, Afghan Snow hunlai kha chuan natural taka kan la len ve theih lai ania ka hre ve vak lo. He thil hi chu midang sun exposure denzerus zia leh sunscreen hman nachang hre lo an awm ve tak hlauh in ka ron post nih hi.

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  12. I'd be flabbergasted at the coincidence of this blogpost with me asking my mom to buy sunscreen before we hit the beach tomorrow... not that i am known to take such precautions :)

    oh, btw, its good to leave a comment on ur blog... and surely all the blooms (after all the wiry weatherbeaten tree pics) give me ample confidence that all is well with the world and its creatures :)

    warm greetings!

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  13. Hey tinks, where have you been? Was wondering if you'd called it quits on the blogosphere. What's with the mum thing? You in the country or your folks with you? Jimmy's currently in this part of the world btw. I think he's doing the old tracing the tracks of my childhood thingy. And argh they're not wiry weatherbeaten trees...I think they're incredibly eyecatching!

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  14. Isn't this a nice excuse to buy a beautiful Victorian hat with embellishments and all? :)

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  15. Hehe claytonia, it probably is but I somehow can't quite see myself in a huge frilly thing like that. Unless I were at some horse race as part of a filthy rich jet-setting crowd :)

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  16. hmmm i vun poh chu i vabuaipui ve....btw lost ur phn no. so i couldn't call u..hihihhih.....ka fapa thlalak ka ron thon chak tehreng nen che chukkss..jazz here

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  17. Phone-ah kher thlalak min thon i tum a? Funny viau teh suh aw, my jazzy boy. Lo zin ru... in naute ka lo babysit sak thin ang che u.

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  18. phone ah kher ka ti ami...azl ah kan om reng a min ron hmu duh lo anih kha.....i phn no min lo pe teh i aw te poh kan hre chak leh toh alom...i mail ID poh min lo pe teh pics ka ron thon teuh ang che....btw i see that u still care for ur skin and looks...thats awesome

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  19. In ron zin a min contact lo a? Om alom. "..still care for your skin.." han in tih kher...a va na ve! Grrrrrr!

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  20. ummm i meant its good that u care about what u put on ur skin hihihihih.....engtin nge awwww ka ron contact ang che...i phn no min ron mail teh

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  21. Dear blogger, this is to bring to your notice that you have not updated your blog for a long time, due to which regular readers are feeling quite terrible, and bored. Kindly rectify the matter as soon as possible. Some people are having acute withdrawal symptoms, and some are definitely sounding suicidal.

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  22. Dear Anonymous, please get over your withdrawal symptoms and don't go into suicidal mode just yet. We'll have an update soon....as soon as you tell me your name. Anonymous comments tend to make me go into feeling terrible and bored syndrome mode myself.

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