I'M NOT A DOCTOR?

Are you sure?  Maybe someone should have told me that before I unknowingly gave myself a flesh eating disease.  (on my face of all places!)  Seriously- I have been afflicted with a 'skin condition'.  I have never had any dermatological issues... well, unless you count that pesky melanoma.

Okay so maybe saying the words 'afflicted', and 'flesh eating', are a little extreme.  But I am highly annoyed.  About 2 moths ago, I noticed that under my nose was a little red.  It looked like I had a cold, and had blown my nose a lot.  I put a little hydrocortizone cream on it. Somewhere along the line, I decided that cortizone cream fixes everything.  It seemed to make it slightly less red. Well, Dale has a virtual pharmacy at our house.  (if you ever need a wart removed, or just need a little lytocane (sp?) our house is pretty much one stop shopping.) Anyway- if over the counter cortizone cream is good- then prescription strength cortizone is GREAT.  And guess what?  We happen to have a rather large tube of it in Dale's "supply closet". It seemed to work well.  It wasn't as red, and it didn't hurt.  But it didn't go away either.  So of course, with all my medical "knowledge" I amped up my treatment.  A little heavy duty steroid cream never hurt any one... right?  WRONG.  Apparently my medical training (by medical training I mean being an expert in band aids and neosporin) was about to cause me some major grief.  My slightly red nose- which would have cleared up on it's own, was now a full blown... something.  My brother in law Mike is a P.A. for a really good dermatologist.  After 2 months of my "treatment", I now had sore, itchy, red bumps.  Dale took some pictures and e-mailed them to Mike.  The diagnosis?  Perioral dermatitis.  Definition- sore, itchy, red bumps around the nose and mouth.  The reason people get this (mostly women between the ages of 20-40) is unknown.  But it could possibly be- "the uncritical use and abuse of topical steroid cream.  ie: prescription strength cortizone cream."  NICE.  So now I have to deal with my 'condition' until my antibiotics, and my topical cream clear it up.  It won't go away on it's own.  Man I really made a mess of things.  Plus it's not something that will go away quickly.  4 to 6 weeks (or more) from now, I should be back to normal.  4 to 6 WEEKS!  Yeah.  I think it should be a law that you can't have 2 confidence destroying things at once.  Id rather not be chubby and have a flesh eating disease.  So I'm not a doctor.  Now I know. I guess I'll stick to band aids, and neosporin.  I wonder what else neosporin is good for?

p.s. It's not contagious.  Just thought you should know.  (as if that helps!)