Last Tuesday I had a couple of acne spots on my face that were red and irritated, so overnight I put a couple band-aids on my face to keep an ointment over them to help heal faster. I used some fabric adhesive bandages that were recently on sale, Kroger brand. They were really sticky, and stuck securely. I was pretty happy about this new brand at first, since some other brands sometimes slide off in my sleep.
I woke up the next morning and peeled them off as soon as I woke up. It left VERY noticeable red marks on my face in the exact shape of a band-aid. I literally looked like I was still wearing some red bandages on my face. I kinda laughed, and figured my face was slightly irritated and it would go away within an hour or two. 0% worried at this time. I washed my face, used moisturizer, and drank my coffee like usual. Right before I left for work I looked in the mirror and thought, "It doesn't look better yet... I'll just put another layer of lotion on, and it'll be better by the time I get to work." I was 20% worried.
I parked in the parking lot at work, looked in my car mirror, and thought a curse word in my head. I still looked like I had two red band-aid prints on my face. I was 45% worried. One of them was conveniently close to my ear and I could mostly hide with my hair. The other one was smack dab in the middle of my cheek, no hope of hiding it.
Just my luck, at work I had go to a volunteer training meeting where I met about twenty-five new church volunteers for the first time ever. Thankfully nobody stared at it, mentioned it, or made me uncomfortable at all. I survived a whole day. When I got home from work, Brian wisely ignored it until I brought it up first.
After dinner I asked, "You see these marks on my face?" And Brian was like YEAH. I read online some other people's experiences with allergic reactions to adhesive bandages. Everybody only has reactions to the fabric kind just like me, so from now on I will only buy the rubbery plastic type, and never Kroger brand. One person posted that her dermatologist identified it as a mild chemical burn, and it stayed visible for three whole weeks. I started freaking out, 100% worried. We were two days away from vacation and I didn't want these red band-aid marks in every picture.
I've mentioned on this blog before that I never wear makeup. So I don't own makeup. I made Brian take me to the drugstore immediately and I attempted to buy some. I am completely clueless but I bought what I thought were the right things to mask the big red marks. I came home with the very palest shade of concealer and foundation from Mabeline New York, which I assumed was an okay brand because it was not the very cheapest available, and I've seen TV commercials for it that try to appeal to adults not teens. I attempted to put the makeup on, and the shade matched my skin well, but it wasn't totally opaque and the red marks showed through obviously. I was upset to say the least.
The next morning, Wednesday, the marks were significantly diminished, and the makeup helped make it less noticeable. Thursday morning it was almost completely gone, and the makeup made it invisible. By Friday I didn't need makeup on it, and you could only see the marks if you were searching for them in the mirror like I was.
I did NOT take a selfie with the red marks on my face because honestly I was upset and embarrassed about them. Almost a week has passed, and the rednes is finally gone. But in this picture below, you can still see the acne spot on my cheek, which gives you a good idea of where the big red band-aid mark was.
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