Two weeks. That’s the time your skin needs to get to work before you start your first treatment. Don’t forget to wear your sunscreen daily. SPF 50 nothing less. Every day, not only when travelling to the coast. The outcome of what we are about to do is dependent on whether you apply discipline to your home skincare routine.
It’s been over a decade that I have been to a dermatologist. I have suffered from acne and pigmentation condition as far back as when I was thirteen. I was in Grade eight and had started school at M.D Coovadia. Back then, it was a good school and I had always admired its brilliance. Almost everyone in my class was really smart. It was the first school I had been to where I didn’t feel weird for wearing a tie, because I wasn’t the only one.
This was the same year I’d lost my cousin Olga Lasterlas. When I came back to school, after being absent to attend her funeral. Mohamed asked me where I’ve been and I told him I was away to bury my ‘relevant’. He had the biggest crack of his life, but he somehow understood that beneath the neat-fastened tie was a township kid trying to pave way for a brighter future.
I wish I hadn’t taken myself serious all the time and learned to save a moment to laugh at myself. As I laid in the examination bed and the doctor examined the years of impurities and unevenness that had taken a toll on the health of my skin, I held in my hand a mirror starring at a reflection of a time when it all began.
Coming back home and getting into the routine of things made me become aware of how little time I spend looking into a mirror, be it in the morning or evening after a shower. The derma advised that the two weeks gives enough time for the skin products to remove build up, toxins and any underlying impurities underneath the skin. As I spent more and more time in front of the mirror, it was the inner work unfolding in front of my eyes that had me intrigued.
How little time we spend with ourselves, looking after our well-being, having the courage to face our deepest fears. I have never been a fan of “what would you say to your younger self” fraction. I guess dermatologists are no different to psychologists, depending at how you look at things.
