My First Dermatologist Appointment, at Age 26.

My skin has been FREAKING out lately. Every morning (afternoon??) I wake up, I can't WAIT to look in the bathroom mirror at all the new craters that have appeared on my face during the previous 7 or 8 hours of sleep. Nothing like kicking a woman when she's down. I mean, really? I'm still getting used to living alone, there are 987,453 things on my mind at any given moment, I haven't been making it to the gym as much as I'd like, so I feel gross...why not add a few gazillion zits to my face? God is testing me. ANYWAY- A few weeks ago, I found out that my health insurance covers dermatologists. I never knew this before. I also never knew it was so ridiculously hard to get an appointment with one. The doc my friend recommended is booked and I couldn't get an appointment until January 21st. So, I googled away and found another one not too far away. To make a long story short, my appointment was yesterday.

My doctor was about 167 years old, and looked exactly like this:
After touching my face under a horribly bright light, and asking me if I'm under a lot of stress (YES.), he told me that I needed to calm down, and that often times girls get very stressed out..for example, during Prom season or around the time of Homecoming. It took me all I had not to laugh in his face and say, "PLEASE GIVE ME BACK THE STRESS OF GOING TO PROM. I WILL TAKE IT OVER THE STRESS OF THESE LAST FEW MONTHS IN A HEARTBEAT", but alas, I remained calm, because I got his point. I am a stupid girl and I am worrying too much, which in turn causes my skin to go haywire, which makes me worry...it's all a vicious cycle.

After prescribing me a lotion and an antibiotic, he also told me to avoid the following 4 foods:
1. nuts of any kind (including peanut butter)
2. Tomatoes and tomato-based products
3. Colas I can't see through (wish he would've told me that before I bought that 12-pack of Diet coke)
3. Chocolate (crap.)

Apparently these things irritate your skin in times of stress and breakouts. I just thought it was interesting because I've never heard the tomato thing. Maybe it's a load of crap. But he told me to try it all for a month (including the meds he gave me) and then I gotta go back. Here are some other surprising things he told me to do: Don't wash with a washcloth or a body poof, use your hands. Not sure why, but whatever. Also, don't use moisturizer on my face until my skin clears up (even if it's oil-free). He also told me to use oil-free make-up, which is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. I don't even know why they would manufacture makeup with oil in it...so I've already got that one covered.
Anyway, if I can go a month without chocolate and tomatoes and the occassional Diet Coke, I better be five pounds thinner with super clear skin.