Member-only story
TW/CW: Photos of dog bite scars, talk of suicidal ideation, depression, and loss of loved ones.
**UPDATED 12/24/2020 Please scroll down to the bottom for a support group link I created for our community on Facebook**
About two years ago, I wrote a deeply personal essay about what it was like one year after a traumatic facial injury from a dog bite. Many of you have reached out to me since on Instagram and Twitter to talk about your own dog bites and facial injuries. I wrote that essay partially for myself and to be a resource to anyone else going through what I did, but I never would have imagined just how many of you would have found me because you were suffering through the same experience and were looking for understanding and guidance.
I recently passed the three year anniversary of my dog bite injury, and it was significant because of how much had changed for me emotionally and psychologically. I did feel better a year later, but now I’m at the point Dr. Desai told me I’d be at a few years on. I don’t constantly think about my dog bite scars anymore, and have come to a certain peace with them. The random pains from the new nerves have calmed down and I rarely feel my lower lip twitch randomly anymore. Of course I still see the scars anytime I look in the mirror, but I am no longer fixated on them and I don’t feel like a disfigured monster anymore. I go out without makeup again, although this year, I am often in a mask for safety with the COVID19 pandemic going on.
I decided I would revisit this again because of how many people have reached out, and because I thought I could provide some additional information that might be beneficial to those of you looking for solutions for your own scars. I know I mentioned I had had four steroid (kenalog/5FU) injections from six months post-injury to a year after injury when I wrote last.
Right after my one year post-bite anniversary, I started topical prescription products to prep my skin for laser treatment. I went to a wonderful nurse, Jennifer Hollander, in Beverly Hills. She prescribed Obagi Nuderm Blender and Tretinoin…
