The other likely contributor to my breakout is carbohydrate consumption. While I'm normally on a low-carb diet, I started eating carrots and potatoes around the time of my laser treatment. The reason was that, in my boredom being stuck at home, I started reading the "Blue Zones", a book about centenarians and their lifestyle. It indicates that many of these long-lived people eat high-glycemic foods -- even bread. The problem, of course, is that while they then proceed to burn it off in their daily activities, I wasn't exactly doing that, being confined to my chair. No doubt, this caused my blood sugar to spike out of control, resulting in all manner of inflammation, most obviously manifesting on my face. Oops.
So now, I'm going to avoid carbohydrates, take a modest zinc gluconate supplement (which Wikipedia says should be helpful), and increase my fish oil intake.
But realistically, I know that diet is only a part of the problem. Indeed, if I can just get over this acne outbreak and allow my skin to heal, then I may be able to return to my higher-carbohydrate diet (which I'd like to do, as the purple potatoes are a cheap source of anthocyanin). I know that the main cause is simply the epidermal chaos which has ensued from laser burns. With that in mind, I tried my sunburn remedy last night: topical turmeric.
Turmeric is a powerful antiinflammatory. Now, I do want some inflammation, as it's part of the healing process. But sometimes it can get out of hand, as in this case. According to Wikipedia, acne is only partly an inflammatory process; it also involves noninflammatory processes involving bacterial infection and follicular blockage. But I figured that if I could at least remedy the inflammatory component of the affliction, then I could make substantial progress toward a cure.
Here's how my turmeric remedy works. By the way, it works wonders for sunburn; in my experience, it accelerates healing faster than aloe: Put a tablespoon of turmeric in a bowl. Wet the face thoroughly. Pat the turmeric onto your face. Do not moisten the turmeric itself, as it will tend to clot on your face, leaving areas uncovered. The turmeric layer you deposit will thus be moist at the bottom, where it adheres to your face, and dry and dusty on top. (Try not to inhale it. While I suspect that it would be good for your lungs, I have evidence to support that.) Leave it on for 30 minutes, or if possible, 2 hours. Here's what I looked like:
I should have taken a photo of the acne before I applied the turmeric. It was much redder and angrier. Also, before applying the turmeric, I popped all the pimples with a sterile needle, while frequently washing the affected areas with liquid soap. I've read that puncturing whiteheads can promote acne scars, but I used a tiny needle to make invisibly small incisions in them, so I presume that the possibility of scarring is not significant.
That was last night. Here's what I look like this morning. While the redness is subdued, the acne bumps are still visible. Hopefully the dietary changes will improve them in a couple weeks:
By the way, I stopped using my prescription moisturizer, as I think it was contributing to my clogged follicles. (It has a consistency similar to Vaseline.) It's supposed to help rebuild collagen, which sounds like a good idea, so I'd like to restart it if I can get the acne under control.
Finally, I've also noticed that my baseline heart rate is floating around 61, whereas it's normally 47. This can happen when one has a fever, for example. But I certainly don't feel that I have one. Perhaps it's a response to the inflammatory process on my face; somehow, hormonal signalling has told my heart that I'm fighting an infection. It might also relate to my moderate nasal infection, which of course has nothing to do with my laser resurfacing. I'll have to wait a few days and see what happens.
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