Before, during, and after pics of MW on neck

As I have written before, I have stayed away from all moisturizers the last 3 months except for my neck and hands. I have been using a scant amount of neosporin with pain relief on those areas due to having to work and not being able to deal with the pain. That scant amount kept growing until I was rubbing the stuff on multiple times a day. And the only areas that were bad were my neck and hands.  I can understand my hands given how much I have to wash them at work, but my neck??  So I decided to go through complete MW on my hands and neck starting last week.  I had to live with ice on my neck most of the week.  When I went to work, I was hurting!  But it paid off!  I am happy to say my neck is feeling amazing!!!  I have not had luck with my hands as of yet...I started tanning this week as well.  When I went tanning, I would have to cover my neck for about 30 seconds every 2 minutes because it just hurt.  But after the third session, it actually felt great!  Today was session 4 in a row.  I have to say between MW and tanning, I may not need to go visit the beach!  I seem to have calmed the flares. I am still on all my supplements and will continue them.  Since my body has a lot of healing to do from the genetic mutation, it will take time to see 100% clearing on my skin.  But given how I have been improving for the last 3 months, I am going to make an educated guess here and say I think I will be 100% clear in 3-6 months.  Only time will tell of course, but I'm willing to take bets!  :) Of course I'm kidding as I'm not a gambling person, but regardless, if I am clear within 6 months, I win anyway because I will have been freed of this beast!

So here is how it went down....started MW on  the 22nd or 23rd I believe.  I have a picture taken a week or two before then of my neck in a pink/red flare. Then the next picture is taken on Christmas about 2-3 days into MW when my neck felt at its worst....cracking and oozing and oy the pain!  I could barely make it 30 seconds without my ice pack on to take the picture!  Christmas was spent on the couch while the kids played with their gifts.  Then the third picture is of today....1 week into MW and 4 days of tanning.

I am going to a tanning booth that has both UVA and UVB rays to try to mimic the sun as much as possible. I went for 5 minutes the first day in a 15 minute maximum bed.  I worked up to 12 minutes in a 12 minute bed today.  I don't feel burned and if anything, my skin feels softer and more hydrated than before.  I plan to keep going about 4-5 times a week for the next few weeks.  If I can't clear my hands in that time, I will then consider taking a 4-5 day vacation to Florida. Currently my hands are still a mess but feeling better.  I have to work the next 2 days so that will give me a good idea on if the tanning is helping.  

Again I urge anyone with TSW to do 2 things:  try MW for at least 2 weeks minimum.  You have nothing to lose - yes it hurts for the first few days but it is well worth it if it ends up working for you! And 2.  Get tested for the MTHFR gene mutation - it would be worth knowing if you need the special activated B vitamins to offset others conditions as well such as heart disease, stroke, etc.  Or if you don't want to get tested, at least try the activated forms of folic acid (5-mthf) and B12 (methylcobalamin) .  They are water soluable and an overdose is extremely difficult to obtain.  I purchased a sublingual form of the 2 combined to give my kids given they have at least 1 part of their MTHFR gene mutated from me.  

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (for those that celebrate) and here's hoping for a better new year for all of us going through TSW!!!