Narrowband UVB

My experience of NBUVB treatment:

I check in, get a sticker for the parking ticket, and have a seat. Usually I wait 2-3 minutes before getting called back. The tech asks how I'm doing and makes sure I didn't burn last time. If I did, they'll lower the dosage. I always use room #5 and am currently at a dose of 490 milliJoules, once a week. When I first started treatment I was at 300 mJ 3x a week, my highest dose was 750 mJ 3x a week. This corresponds to treatment times of 0.5 - 1.5 minutes. Considering that it takes an hour total for me to leave the house, get treatment, and get back home it feels a little silly that all that is for (currently) one minute of treatment.

After going into room #5, I strip down, protect my ....(eh hm, down yonder region) with the blue piece of paper provided, sunscreen my nipples, apply SPF 45 lipbalm, put mineral oil on any spots I see, pull my hair up in a bun so my neck gets light, put on goggles, check to make sure I did everything I was supposed to, press the call button, hop into the standup tanning bed, answer that I'm ready, the tech starts the treatment. During my first treatments I wore the face shield, but then my skin started getting darker (and by dark I mean the 2 shades darker than snow and nowhere near pale yet) than my face, so I stopped wearing it. I do wear goggles, but am starting to notice that I have "goggle eyes", so my undereye area is pretty pale compared to my face. I still figure that's better than my whole face looking deathly pale. I keep my eyes closed during treatment, but it's still really bright. At first the heat scared me and felt uncomfortable but now its actually comfortable because I'm cold by the time I get in there so it's nice to feel warm. During my first treatments I would count...one...two....three...four...five... It was comforting to know approximately how much time was left. I don't know when I stopped counting, but I have. I guess I've gotten really good at knowing when one minute is up. I follow my doctors suggestion to turn around and make sure everywhere is getting light like a roasting turkey. When the lights turn off, I wipe off the sunscreen and mineral oil, get dressed, and leave.

For me, my skin gets really sensitive for about 2 days after. I'm pretty itchy and my stomach tends to get pretty pink. I've really burned a couple times. Last week my left side only burned. Several months ago I forgot to mention the antibiotics I was on and got really badly burned all over. Even after regular treatments my skin tends to feel warm for the rest of the day. Certain clothes are more irritating, so after my first treatments, I went out and got soft, slinky clothes to wear post treatment. I've gotten more used to the irritation (don't we all learn to cope with itching and irritation from patches and plaques?), so I don't worry as much about the clothes I wear afterwards.

It's just a minor setback.

This is always a stressful time of year for everyone. I've been particularly stressed lately and it has shown on my skin. Several new spots popped up on my legs and stomach. I had a regularly scheduled appointment with my doctor on Wednesday and was glad for the chance to show him the new spots. He believes they're the result of going from once a week NBUVB to every other week; it may have been too much of a reduction. I'll be going once a week again and hopefully that will clear up the new spots. He still doesn't believe I need to use Targretin or any other topical gels so that's good news.

The new spots aren't large enough to be really concerning, its just not the direction I want to be heading in. My oldest, largest spot has almost completely faded, but its still there, slightly pink, and hasn't changed at all in the last 6 months or so. I'm trying to be happy with where I'm at, I know I am far luckier than most with this disease.