Apologies for the lack of posts recently, I’ve had a bit of personal tragedy this week. Two of my beloved cats passed away, one of old age and the other of cancer. I’m having a tough time focussing my mind on anything else at the moment, but I’ll be back to regular posting as soon as I’ve got the emotional baggage sorted out.

On Monday, I finally had my contact lens fitting and took my shiny new lenses home. Yesterday I had to wear them for three hours and then increase the wear time in one hour increments daily until I’m at the maximum twelve hours. Well this is easier said than done, I’m struggling with them quite a bit.

For starters, I have astigmatism in my right eye. It’s not severe, but enough to warrant the use of a toric lens and this is making insertion a little more awkward. I can usually get the left lens in pretty quickly, but the right is only successful after a good 15 minutes of fiddling about. Removal isn’t exactly a fun affair either - funny how the blasted things won’t get off your finger when you’re trying to put them in, but when you want to get them out they hang onto your eyeball for dear life.

I have dry eyes apparently, so I have to pay extra for premium comfort lenses. Despite this, my eyes still feel sore and dry, even only shortly after I’ve put the lenses in. I’m also getting some headaches too, right above the eye socket. 

Then there’s the vision itself, which isn’t great. Once the toric lens has settled itself in (which can be up to half an hour after insertion) I still can’t see very clearly. Using the computer is particularly difficult as text looks slightly blurry and I can really feel my eyes straining. As I spend a great deal of time looking at my screen, this is worrying.

Finally there’s the hassle. Daily disposables are expensive, so I’m using monthlies and all the cleaning just adds more work to my day. I admit I’m terribly lazy, so anything like this is just too much effort. I like the simplicity of popping my glasses on in the morning and then throwing them on the bedside table at night. 

So, I guess I’m not really convinced that contacts are the way to go right now. I’ll give my trial a little bit longer and see if things improve, but otherwise I don’t think I’ll be making the switch.

In other eyesight news, I had my new glasses replaced just over a week ago. Apparently the frames were too wide for my face (causing the distortion) and the lenses were too thick. I now have a smaller pair of frames with thin lenses which I’m extremely comfortable wearing.

I got through my entire period this month with only one spot (and that was on my neck) so I think my regime is working very well. I’m not sure if it’s the Suki products or the microfibre cloth or a combination of both that’s doing the trick.

For the last week or so, I have noticed a couple of small dry red patches on my right cheek. This worried me as I suffered with these quite badly several years ago and I’m terrified of it coming back. I was concerned I might be reacting to something in one of the Suki products, so I left out the cleansers for a few days and only used the Blue Chamomile Serum and White Willow toner. This hasn’t really made any difference, though the patches aren’t getting any worse.

About two days after my period finished, two pimples suddenly appeared on my lower right cheek. This was followed by a third one the day after, plus a tiny one right above my upper lip, and then two more on my left cheek. I was really upset as my older acne marks were finally fading and I was looking forward to having blemish-free skin for the first time in years. Naturally I began to panic and desperately looked over all the Suki ingredients fruitlessly hoping to find a clue.

Then it dawned on me and I felt like such an idiot - since around the time all these new problems started, I’ve been feeling under the weather. I had shooting pains in my temple for a couple of days, then a slightly sore throat and most recently a blocked nose. I suspect I have a viral infection and if my body is busy fighting it, it would certainly explain why my skin is suffering.

As soon as I realised this, I made a concerted effort to drink lots of water and I’m continuing to do so. I think it’s making a difference as the existing spots are now drying up and no new ones have formed. I am using the Suki Facial Creme again, but I’ve decided to leave out the Moisture Rich Cleansing Lotion - although it’s nice, I don’t think it’s necessary and I prefer to just use the microfibre cloth at night. 

I will update again when my infection has cleared up and my skin is able to return to its normal state. In the meantime, I will tentatively state that I think I’ve found my acne Holy Grail.