Winter Flare Ups: Living with Darier's White Disorder in all seasons

Each winter I am reminded why I hate the cold weather: it's dry here in Ontario and I run my humidifier constantly, but it is never enough. My scalp gets flaky and my skin gets flares easier. But this year a NEW thing has happened :( my face is getting dry red patches that itch and have a mix of acne and flare up bumps = NOT FUN.

dry patches are new and I hate them

I am trying to treat it with a mixture of things as I am finding one cream is either too heavy (Vitamin E cream and a new one I tried from LUSH called Celestial) and takes away the redness/dry spot but leaves pimples, or it dries out the pimples and soothes the dry skin but leaves flaky dry skin (Vitamin A cream, Polysporin, and the Germolene).

UPDATE: Celestial didn't work out, it was too heavy and left me breaking out** I ended up using it as a hand cream.

I hate winter.
(And yet I prefer it to summer? Ugh, scratch that, I just hate my stupid skin.)

Granted I'm also highly stressed lately and have been consuming more sugar than normal... I need to focus on getting back into a routine of meditation and low/no sugar intake as my back has sprouted red "wings" and the front of my torso is sporting red blotches here and there. I am feeling very defeated.

I have been going to the gym somewhat regularly so sweating and friction of the workout clothes might also be contributing, and they have a hot tub there which is chlorinated so that could be helping or hindering me as well; I have heard that chlorine helps some of us with DWD and people go swimming in pools to help keep flares down.

I am going to go back to 2x 100 mg magnesium a day - one in the morning and one before bed to see if that helps, on top of my regular Vitamin B + Pine Bark Extract mix in the morning. It could be time to mix in Vitamin D (cloudy winters are not making this fun either).

So just a reminder that it's not always the same thing day in and out that works - sometimes you have to bang your head against the metaphoric wall and try to tap into what's making the flare and fix it on the fly.

Happy winter everyone :/

A video update! Things are improving with these three things...

So the past few months have been trying to say the least, and everything translates to my skin - you know that saying wearing your heart on your sleeve? Well I wear my "heart" aka stress on my neck, as that's where my Darier's manifests the most.

So I tried:

Bio Oil = fail.

Recovery Balm from Saje = fail.

So next I went back to what I know: lower sugar, no dairy, less stress (isn't that always the goal??) and of course the tried and tested supplements. I went back to taking Vitamin A gels at night, Zinc 15 ml at lunch, and ok, I admit, something new....

I vlogged about it! Check it out:

I ordered Germolene on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B008D0MLGA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The Darier's White Disorder Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/21860644983/ 

Trying Something New Follow Up: Saje Restoral Ointment results

I have some sad news, my experiment did not go well with my last post about the Saje Restoral Skin Ointment  it didn't work for me, I tried it for a week, applying in the morning and at night. Here is the day by day:

Day 1


Day 2


Day 3



Day 4


Day 5


...and then I stopped. My skin was getting sore and irritated and hurt. So I stopped and called this a failed experiment. I couldn't make it to day six :(

I went right back to Vitamin A Cream and BOOM it was better in a few days with my pink dots rather than blistered sores like you see above.

I'm sad that it didn't help; at first it felt like it was drying out the affected area but it was really just irritating it and making them open up and be sore and weepy, which made me sore and weepy.

You never know, it may work for you but for me it just seemed to make it worse.

What creams and dietary goods are you trying? Anything new?

Trying something new: Saje Restoral Ointment

I'm a bit hooked on Saje what with their amazing smelly stuff - but being so prone to flare ups and finding the more natural I go the more my skin seems to be happy with me... I started trying things other than their lavender pillow mist (which I HIGHLY recommend...) but their skin stuff.

Restoral Healing Skin Ointment's first ingredient is PINE TAR! See a theme here? My Pine Bark Extract pills are something I can't live without - and here I find this pine tar ointment?! I have to try it.

It is like a potted lip balm in texture, it's brown and it leaves a bit of an orangey brown colour on my skin when applied. BUT it is soothing and it doesn't make my DWD itch or flare. I have been using it for about a week now and my neck bumps (for lack of technical term for the bumps that are ALWAYS around) are not chapped or red, they are pink and soft. This bodes well...

I will keep trying it out and add it to the routine - though I am still applying Vit A cream at night this is something I have started to put on when I get home from work or in the morning under my make up. (Yes I sometimes use Cover FX on my neck to cover up the redness...)

I will report back after some time but I do think it might be worth a try for those who want an alternative to anti-itch creams and ointments. I used this on mosquito bites too and it helped as well!