Today's reading about skin care

I'm astonished that none of you went "squee" at the tiny little bottles and jars I found. Are you entirely soulless? Or am I just that weird? Never mind.

Today's reading about skin care focuses on pH and how the skin is acidic and should remain that way. I bought pH testing strips from Amazon so I can find out how the cleanser I've been using for the last couple of years adds up -- apparently most foaming cleansers are dreadfully acidic, and the effect of putting such things on your skin can last for hours. It also just sounds nerdily fun to wander around the house testing the acidity of things.

If anyone cares to read along:
Blog post one
Blog post two

A viable skin problem theory

Back in March I complained about "Deep, biggish [papules] that are very prone to drying out on top and turning scabby even if I never squeeze them".

These are mostly a thing of the past now, thank goodness... but I do have one little mystery scab, low on my cheek, to be curious about. And I happened to remember that once, in high school, I was diagnosed with impetigo; a one-time thing as far as I knew, and at the time they asked me if I lived on a farm... I looked it up anyway, because hey, skin problem I once had -- and on medicinenet it says:

Non-bullous impetigo: This form initially presents as small red papules similar to insect bites. These lesions rapidly evolve to small blisters and then to pustules that finally scab over with a characteristic honey-colored crust. This entire process usually takes several days.

Slow-developing, blistery, crust-forming? Sounds familiar (would require a test by a dermatologist to be sure). If so, then they're caused by staph or strep bacteria rather than by p. acnes. Similar thing though, bacterial infection. Scarring is rare and Bacitracin is recommended as a treatment; no real way to prevent, except to wash hands and, presumably, by making skin a worse environment for bacteria to grow on.