A surprising reaction

As someone who had terrible acne in her late teens and early 20s - a problem that was finally cleared up, pun intended, thanks to Accutane - I try to take really good care of my skin. While I haven't had true acne since stopping Accutane in 2005, my skin is very oily and still blemish-prone. So for years I've used some products that help keep my skin healthy and as clear as possible, including fragrance-free face wash for sensitive skin; a beta hydroxy acid (BHA) gel to keep my pores from getting clogged; an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) gel to help exfoliate the surface of the skin (which helps minimize San Diego sun damage!); and a moisturizer with benzoyl peroxide for those areas prone to zits.

When I was pregnant, I had to stop using the BHA and benzoyl peroxide because there hasn't been enough research to indicate whether the ingredients can harm a developing baby. I was fine with this, because pregnancy was generally good to my skin. But apparently after having Olivia, something about my skin's resilience to certain products was reset to zero.... because last week I had a terrible, possibly even an allergic, reaction to benzoyl peroxide!

Last week Saturday (the 14th) I patted my benzoyl peroxide moisturizer onto my face and went to sleep. Keep in mind this is a product I've been using without trouble for a couple of years, however I was using it for the first time since having Olivia because I noticed my face was starting to break out. Postpartum hormones are crazy!

I woke up Sunday with a stinging face and when I looked in the mirror, I saw that my face looked sunburned. And the redness was in the shape of "swipe marks" where my fingers had rubbed on the benzoyl peroxide lotion. I figured the redness would calm down during the course of the day, but it got worse throughout the day and by the time I woke up Monday morning my face was blistered!

I actually considered calling my boss and telling her I needed to work from home--my face felt like it was on fire and there were crazy red, raised patches all over it. But considering it was only my second week back at work following maternity leave, I decided to see if I could cover it up. After a very liberal application of foundation, followed by a thick layer of liquid concealer, I was able to tone down the redness. But for the rest of the week my face remained red and then dried up like a dehydrated apple - my skin peeled so badly, it looked like I was attacked by a cheese grater!

Luckily the worst of the redness and peeling had subsided by Friday morning, and as of today I only have a few small, dry patches - nothing you can see unless you're staring at my face from an inch away. Needless to say, I tossed the benzoyl peroxide in the trash and will not be using it again!