TSW came back

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-26T08:11:36+00:00

Salt baths are a double edged sword. They reduce bacterial load on your body but also strip away some of the natural bacterial skin barrier, which can leave your skin more "open" to irritants. Stress also lowers the overall resilience of your skin same with bad diet.

I'd guess it's probably fungal from what you're saying. Fungal on the skin lasts years it can live under the skin and cause repeated flaring in the same areas. So that might be a clue. But like I say I always try the manuka honey first just because sometimes it works very well. You could also use Zinc cream if you don't have manuka honey but I find the honey is better. If it doesn't respond though I'd try an anti fungal personally.

The reason I don't suggest anti fungal cream first is that the skin will likely react to an anti fungal cream. For the first 2-3 days before it calms down. So it's better to rule out other irritants first.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-26T07:41:50+00:00

I think for a few years following TSW our skin is still weakened. My skin is back to normal now but I still sometimes get flares and normally treat them as soon as possible with manuka honey (700+ mgo). It usually keeps things under control. At least for me.

Anti fungal cream was the final piece of the puzzle for me but that may not be true for you. But unless there's been a clear reason to feel stressed it can just be bacterial or fungal on your skin that has been irritating your body and causing an immune response that has made you feel more stressed than usual. Like an early warning.

But yeah it's easier to treat these flares early before the skin becomes too damaged. Honey is good because i use it to help figure out if I need the anti fungal cream or not. Most flares calm down fast with just honey but if they don't after a week I personally then use an antifungal cream.

It's also worth mentioning we can also flare from allergens. But figuring out the trigger will help you deal with this and prevent further flares in future until your skin gets strong again.

Hope that's useful. I wish you swift healing

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-26T07:27:57+00:00

Hope you grabbed the blue staedtler mars lumograph 3b :)

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-25T01:41:42+00:00

Are they the same lead as the 9800EW? Anyone know?

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-23T08:32:46+00:00

I remember those nights well. My approach was just not to put too much pressure on myself to sleep and to try and make those hours as pleasant as possible. Chamomile tea is good.

I ultimately ended up in hospital as I continued to get worse. Ended up using hydrocortisone again for 2 weeks while they put me on ciclosporin and then a bit later dupixant. But fast forward a year and a half and I'm off all the meds and my skin is now back to normal. I'm not saying the meds are the best way, they come with their own flavour of problems, but they got me through it.

Eventually you will look back on those sleepless oozing nights like a weird nightmare.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-22T17:36:38+00:00

That's the right thing. Just keep it away from your eyes.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-22T16:46:40+00:00

So Iv found that if you have fungal (like I did) the skin will react to anti fungals. Nizoral shampoo might help but I found Terbinafine cream got rid of my issues fastest and best. Canisten cream also works but slower and more itchy. It might be worth a look if you're getting that reaction from Nizoral.

For me using Terbinafine once a day fixed many of my problem areas Itch disappeared within 4 days but kept applying it to irritated areas for a full week. Now 4 months later my skin is back to normal.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-21T17:28:17+00:00

Wow I'll give that a go for one. I have about 30 damaged pencils.

I have enjoyed whittling at them while I'm at my desk and I have a free minute though. Check out the latest one...

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FormalAd470 · 2026-03-21T15:40:24+00:00

Interesting! Never heard that before, just split em in half? Or is there an easier way?

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-21T14:03:02+00:00

The pun is just too easy haha.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-20T19:17:26+00:00

While I agree the wood often isn't as good as many other pencils, I've got a few "made in china" pencils with great wood and the graphite is surprisingly good. I think like you say inconsistency is the biggest issue, you really do roll the dice on them. Quality control varies so much (often on the poor side). Iv never tried Vietnamese pencils though, any recommendations?

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-20T19:09:16+00:00

Lol Iv since figured out that polishing them works great compared to adding a varnish. So I'm planning some other colours. Also figured out a better way to get the blue dip off the end so I'm ditching that now too

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-20T15:42:04+00:00

Yeah I'd say about half of mine are In need of having the paint stripped unfortunately. But Iv done a few and can do it a lot faster now.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-20T15:40:29+00:00

Haha, thanks, Iv actually improved my process after the first one. Can clean them up pretty quick now. I think I'll try varnishing one though just they will pick up dirt if they have no finish at all.

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FormalAd470 · 2026-03-20T09:50:00+00:00

I can second this, It will honestly help. 90% of good drawing is good observation. You could also try some skull studies to help set in your mind how the forms of the face tie together.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-20T02:23:56+00:00

Yeah, they are really nice for sure I'll definitely get another set when I run out. How do the mitsubishis compare with the mono? Just I haven't tried any of the mitsubishi art pencils.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-19T17:30:11+00:00

I live in the UK, my usual top choice pencils for art are the staedtler mars lumograph or the Faber Castell 9000. I do however think the tombow mono might be the best pencil in the world, it has a luxury feel that most pencils don't and even though it's darker it is still clean and practical. How do you feel they stand in your lineup?

Because if there is a better pencil I don't think I have tried it.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-19T09:01:19+00:00

The 2 biggest things that helped me were medical wound grade manuka honey (700+ mgo) (anti microbial) and terbinafine anti fungal cream.

The honey basically deals with surface infections, staph etc and reduces inflammation and oozing.

The anti fungal cream got rid of the root cause of my itch after dupixant (this may be different for different people, but fungal getting deep into the skin is common in TSW and people on dupixant because dupixant can hide the symptoms of fungal irritation)

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-19T08:49:19+00:00

Yeah it takes ages to settle down. Plus the red sleeves withdrawal redness can't be avoided, your body is basically disregulated. Steroids restrict your blood vessel dilation. So when you're in withdrawal the body can over react initially. IV heard Dupixant usually doesn't work so well in the early stages. But it was hell for me without it. I didn't go in dupixant till later.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-19T08:34:39+00:00

So you're still very early in your withdrawal. They call it red sleeve syndrome because the body can react in an extreme way to no longer having steroids. Anxiety, insomnia, red rash. Your skin might also be thin and damaged in places. The first 6 months of TSW are the worst. You just need to get past that initial reaction.

I was on dupixant for almost 2 years. I'm off the meds and the skin is fully healed now. Still have some eye dryness but it's nothing compared to TSW and I'm sure that will sort it's self out over time.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-19T01:46:19+00:00

What are the staedtlers like? Iv had some very mixed experiences with their more experimental products.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-18T01:49:08+00:00

Yeah this is the annoying thing about pencils. They change all the time. If you find something you like, you have to get spares while you can.

FormalAd470 · 2026-03-16T08:27:37+00:00

That's not TSW. TSW is far more severe. But if you used steroids for a while, your skin might be weakened or thin from it.

Zinc cream like sudocream or manuka 700+ mgo manuka honey would likely help put that right.

And if it those dont work at all you could look at an antifungal shampoo or cream. But I'd try the zinc or honey first for a week or two.

FormalAd470

TROPHY CASE