To all who are unfamiliar with the Philippines and their beauty culture well let me tell you a brief story of one of my experiences and yes there will be pictures...before and after. Here in the Philippines the beauty industry is prevalent. They have clinics galore, that are commonly called 'dermas' and most services are very affordable. Let's just say, I'm in heaven.
This particular story involves cautery. If you are not familiar with cautery it's when tissue is burned off, destroyed, through the use of electric current. As we age, some of us develop skin tags or some type of non-life threatening cosmetic skin anomaly. Well, I had a couple of skin tags forming on my right eyelid and one below my left eye. So, I went in to one of those clinics to get an estimate for their removal. The doctor took me into his examination room and looked at my skin through one of those magnified lamps. He said I had several anomalies forming throughout my face and I should have them all removed. (Although, personally I couldn't see any of the anomalies he mentioned. Must have been microscopic... The skin on my face looked as smooth as a baby's bottom, ok maybe wrong analogy. Well anyhoo, the only thing I thought that disrupted my skin's smoothness were the skin tags on my right eyelid and the one below my left eye.) I told him of my skin history and asked how long the recovery will take. He said within a week the wounds would heal and within a month my skin will be better than before. Well that appealed to my vanity. Darned vanity! I left the office to think about it and three days later went back in to have the procedure done.
That day was Monday, May 5, 2014. The procedure itself was not painful. He used a topical anesthetic cream thirty minutes before beginning. I kept my eyes closed the entire time and could only hear the buzzing of the tool he used to zap whatever he was zapping. After the procedure he told me to go straight home and not to touch my face or wash it for the next twenty-four hours.
That night my face ballooned to twice its size and when I woke up in the morning puss that had been leaking out overnight had dried up on the wounds. Gross!!! I called the doctor and he told me to come back to his clinic without washing my face so he could take a look at it. I went in wearing a scarf and hat to cover my entire head along with big dark sunglasses...hahaha... (Incognito) He cleaned my face gave me an anti-inflammatory medication and told me to go back home and once again not to touch my face or wash it and then come back again the next day.
Well the next day my face had ballooned to three times its size and I was no longer recognizable. I looked like a cartoon character. If I died they wouldn't be able to visually identify me. They would need dental records or a DNA test. That's what was going through my mind as I stared horrified at the image that stared back at me in the mirror. I did not go back to the doctor's office that day nor have I since. There was no way I was going to walk about in public with weeping sores and that hideously bloated face.
It took over a week for the swelling and the weeping (the wounds and me) to finally settle down and my face to actually look normal again, except for the scarring or brown spots; I was left with brown spots all over my face. How long that would take to fade I had no clue but I was determined to get rid of them sooner rather than later.
Now I know you all are curious as to how I looked during the swollen period, as I call it, I'm sorry to disappoint but I did not take selfies of myself at that stage. Are you kidding me? I wanted no reminders of that grotesque looking face and if it ever got in the wrong hands...well...blackmail city...let me tell ya! I could always deny it was me, I WAS unrecognizable...except for my mole. Darned mole! Just kidding, I love my mole even though at one time I conducted an experiment to remove it using apple cider vinegar and blogged about it. Thank goodness it was an epic fail. I was just recently told that there are old beliefs that my mole is good luck...I inhale money they say...meaning I acquire money easily. Well, ain't that somethin'! If only it were true...
I did take a couple of selfies a week and a half after the procedure. The swelling was completely gone but the spots are highly visible. Surprisingly the spots on my eyelid have already faded. What does that tell ya? I should have stuck to my guns and told the doctor to just do the ones I asked for in the first place.
To be fair, I had watched several of my friends have this procedure done and none of them had any ill effects. Nope, nada. They had the procedure done one day and the next we were out shopping...go figure. It's just me. I seem to be the only ninny who had negative results. Oh well, let's carry on, shall we...
{Part Two will be published in a few weeks}
(This poem was written during my 'swollen period'. A dark time in my cautery adventure.)
My Monstrosity
I looked into the glass
I saw a beast reflected there
It gave me quite a scare
Maybe it was a glare
Or a light refracted square?
I screamed inside my mind
As bile wept
And so did I
Through the open sores
A lesson learned
To be remembered
For all of time
The fault
The fault is mine
I never should have
Gone in blind
I searched for probity
But all I found were lies
My vanity beguiled
Time is not my friend
Or is it?
Nor will I vilify
The cause of my
Monstrosity
When all I wished for
Was to beautify
Copyright © Allene Angelica 2014
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