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Showing posts from February, 2016

For something completely different

As you should all know by now, I'm stubborn and refuse to accept status quo when it comes to healing. For me, status quo is the place where I am healing, but incredibly slowly. Functionally speaking, I'm fully healed, but I still have white patches, which are healing but too slow for my liking. It's been a while since I tried a new treatment, so rather than doing the same thing and expecting a different result, I decided I'd try something else. I have coconut oil in my pantry already, so trialing it costs me nothing. I'm now using it every day. I figured it was worth trying something oily because it takes more to remove from the skin than Comfrey tea, and because I noticed something interesting of late - the part of my glans that seems to be healing faster is actually the part that is always covered in foreskin. I'm assuming this is the Comfrey at work here. Keeping the skin in contact with the healing compound all the time helps it heal, while having the skin

An update on this blog

I wanted to give you all an update on the future of this blog. As you know, I set it up primarily as a diary of my own recovery journey. I did so in the hope that others might benefit from my experience, and wanted to create a resource that I myself wish had been around when I was at my lowest due to BXO. Those days are mostly behind me, and although I'm still far from the stage I'd like to be at, I'm much much less concerned about my BXO than I was when I set this blog up. So, you would tend to think that my motivation for posting here would be waning. But it's not, and here's why: This week, we reached 10,000 all-time views We are approaching 1000 views per month We have a total of 79 comments (including my own) Now, some of those views will have come from search engines, but as anyone hoping to launch a new blog or website knows, getting hit by search engines is a sure sign you are doing something right, because it means you will show up in response to pe

The emotional side of BXO

Any kind of ailment on or around our genitalia affects us deeply. There is such a stigma placed around STDs that, even when confronted by something that is not infectious, we still end up denigrating ourselves in much the same way as we would if we did have one. It's not just the connotations of being 'unhealthy' that get us down, it's also just the mere visual imperfections. It's bad enough having acne on your face, let alone an unattractive imperfection on our genitals. There's another side to BXO as well - the loss of physical function. In my case, my skin was so tightened and inflexible from it that most kinds of sexual activity were out of the question. I know this can be particularly problematic for women with Lichen Sclerosus, as they can experience very serious issues affecting their sexual capabilities. So here's BXO, which while not contagious, looks hideous and impacts on what we can do, sexually. To top it all off, the medical profession don

Does BXO originate from skin damage?

This morning I was pondering the question "So where does BXO come from?". We're told it's an autoimmune disease, perhaps genetic, and basically that's it. I'm not an immunologist, nor will I ever be. But I don't understand how someone can have an autoimmune disease that stops being active just because it is kept dry. I've read it countless times - keeping the area dry seems to help. I've asked on forums who finds that dryness helps their BXO heal, and the answers are never "not me". Plenty say yes. So why is an autoimmune disease only an autoimmune disease if the area is wet? Forgive my ignorance, but that feels like a bit of a weak argument, but I'll reserve judgment. Maybe there's a rational explanation. Another school of thought I've found in several places is that LS/BXO plaques sometimes occur around previously damaged skin. As I have pointed out earlier on, I was circumcised as an infant, and have since restored my fo