Experiencing a flare-up, rash, or skin inflammation? Wondering whether it’s the heat or actually something to be worried about? We’ve all been in the same boat at least once in our life!

Skin issues, permanent or temporary, cause a lot of confusion, anxiety, as well as inconvenience. On top of being extremely difficult to manage, they are also quite hard to explain to the doctor.

An accurate diagnosis definitely depends on your ability to track your symptoms and communicate them well to your doctor. This includes any past flare-ups that were similar in nature, elusive skin condition, or a changing nature of the flare up, documenting everything can make your life much easier!

Why Track Your Symptoms?

Why is tracking your symptoms all that important? Well, it’s not always easy to describe your specific ailment in person, exactly how it was when it first appeared. Perhaps it has faded away or changed over the few weeks it took to get an appointment.

The changing nature of flare-ups is hard to explain when you fail to keep an account of the specific timeline as well as what you consumed, wore, or touched around that time. Documenting the instance as well as the story around it can give your doctor insight.

Skin conditions like eczema, rosacea, and acne can be triggered by certain food, stress, weather conditions, or skin products. Tracking the items you used around the time of the flare-up can help your doctor pinpoint the probable cause of the skin condition.

The clearer the history and picture of the symptoms, the more accurate the diagnosis. An in-depth timeline can also provide your doctor a clearer picture of what you might be allergic to and what doesn’t work on your skin.

How to Track the Symptoms?

There are quite a few reliable methods you can use to track your skin symptoms. The first one is keeping a visual log of the affected site and adding it to a digital journal with notes if needed to describe how it is changing over the following days.

Symptoms: Describe what you are experiencing. Are you dealing with extreme dryness, itching, redness, pimples, scaling, or swelling? Utilize Google lens if you are short on words as it can connect you to similar symptoms reported by others online.
Location: Where on your body do the symptoms occur? For example, does your eczema flare up the most on your elbows? Is your acne mostly along your jawline?
Severity: Consider rating your symptoms on a scale of 1 to 10 depending on how you feel about the condition,
Duration: Keep track of how long each flare-up lasts and if there are any specific times in the day when the symptoms worsen.
Environment: What impact does the environment have on your skin reaction? Does it get worse in the summer? Does it get better when you move to a cooler room?
Diet: Pay close attention to your diet and note whether specific foods or drinks trigger the flare-up (dairy, gluten, spicy foods, peanuts etc.).
Stress: Have you experienced a stressful event recently and has it occurred around the time of your flare-up?
Products, Treatments, Medications: Have you used any new skin-care products, makeup or detergent? Have you undergone any treatment and are you on any medication? Has the flare-up decreased or increased in intensity after the treatment?

How to Use this Knowledge

When it’s time to visit your dermatologist, make sure you bring the journal along with you. This is so you can refer back to any photographs or notes that can shed some light on your particular ailment. Be prepared to go over;

When the symptoms started.
How often they occur and how long they last.
What, if anything, makes the symptoms better or worse?
Does any treatment work?

With this record your doctor can definitely derive more accurate judgements, making it much easier for both of you to have a fruitful discussion regarding the next course of action!