Yes, I said pimples--those annoying little bumps that I thought I wish I'd left behind in high school, but instead still battle on different occasions.
On Monday evening, I noticed a little blackhead (gross, I know!) on the side of my nose underneath the place where the nose rest of my glasses well, rests. I squeezed it and also noticed that right beside it was a sore place where one of those my-eyes-are-going-to-water-really-bad-if-I-touch-you under the skin pimples was starting to fester. I rolled my eyes, heaved a sigh of annoyance and went about my business.
The next morning, the under the skin bump was ever-so-slightly raised, so against the "never pop a zit!" campaign's best guilt inducing scare tactics, I squeezed that sucker! Aannnnddd....nothing happened except for my eyes tearing up like I'd been sprayed in the face with bug repellent. I decided to leave the little bugger alone.
As the day went on, the side of nose grew more sore and tender and about midafternoon I took a gander in the mirror and noticed that the previously barely visible bump was now swollen and puffy!
"Great!" I though (sarcasm noted).
I figured I had agitated the area messing around with it earlier in the morning. *Maybe those zit campaign people are on to something....*
I carried on with household duties, school lessons, and so on and so forth. I became increasingly suspicious that there was something else going on and by 11:30 that evening when Alec came home from work, this is what my eye looked like:
(Prepare yourselves, folks. The following image contains no makeup, undereye bags, uncovered birthmarks, and an angle that makes my schnozz appear to have its own zip code.)
The swelling had moved downward and over to the corner of my eye! So, what did I do?? I posted on facebook (which can be helpful, but can also serve to just freak you our more and make you fear that your very life is at risk if you don't go the hospital RIGHT NOW!!!!!!) :).
In this instance, it was actually relatively helpful as friends an family tried to diagnose me. I was in a pretty good amount of pain from the middle of my eyebrow to the top part of my cheekbone underneath my eye(about a 6 on those smiley face pain charts in the hospital). So, at midnight, I went to the ER and by then the swelling was far too big for me to take a picture of and show people.
Turns out I have cellulitis from where I squeezed that pimple and it caused an infection! Say what?!?
Color me shocked. And humbled. Those no-poppin-zits people were right.
Cellulitis can apparently be very serious and when near your eye can possibly cause meningitis!
Antibiotics are my new best friend for the next couple of weeks.
Thank you facebook friends for making me paranoid so that I would go to the doctor!
All of this borderline TMI is basically here to serve as a PSA to leave your pimples alone! Seriously.
Happens to me regularly. Meningitis? Yikes.
ReplyDeleteYou were very lucky...you can also push the puss from the pimple into other areas of the skin, like the sinuses and cause serious problems that can last a lifetime.Toothpaste really does work for most..sorry you got hurt like that, but think you are brave for posting about it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know ANY of that until this happened. It was a learning experience for sure!
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