Just had my allergy breakout (Hives) and my face looks like a map

September 23, 2013 1:59 AM

I have never had an allergic reaction before so I don't know what to do. I just had hives that lasted for 2 weeks. I went to the doctor and they gave me some shots and it was gone in a day, but it came back the second week - I kept taking my meds so the hives are mostly gone now. Some spots were still kind of itchy but its mostly just dark marks on my face. I was wondering if anybody knows how to remove these dark spots on my face because I really feel uncomfortable looking at the mirror and seeing myself like I'm looking at a moon.

I clean my face everyday with Johnson's baby soap and after drying I put in some Aloe Vera moisturizer/lotion from Vaseline. It moisturizes my skin and helps it clear a little bit but it doesn't help that much on those darker spots.

posted by Johnkx to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

I've never attempted to remove such spots, so I apologize for being useless to you there. But you need to wear sunblock, if you don't want to the spots to darken or last longer. Sunblock is probably the only reason I'm not festooned with old healed pimple marks.

Sorry you had such a bad run-in with the dreaded hives.
posted by Coatlicue at 6:19 AM on September 23, 2013

Healing dark spots is just something that takes patience and time. You need to be gentle to your skin (and it sounds like you are, although you probably should put on sunblock as well, and you might not even need the soap unless you get greasy every day) and just wait for the marks to fade. Basically you've got little bruises under your skin.

You can cover up the dark spots and even out your overall skin tone with makeup. (From a previous question you asked, I'm assuming you're a man.) Plenty of guys wear makeup, either to cover up blemishes or present themselves in a different way. There are lots of tutorials online for basic foundation and spot coverage aimed towards men. If the way your face looks now makes you uncomfortable, give yourself the power to change that superficially, while your skin heals.
posted by Mizu at 6:27 AM on September 23, 2013

time. a whole lot of precious time. it's gonna take patience and time.

don't do anything crazy like lasers or dermabrasion. this is just like an acne scar, but less serious/severe. IT WILL GO AWAY. i've had the same thing, but over my whole damn body. sunblock. no serious scrubbing.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 3:15 PM on September 23, 2013