Nature is my enemy

The weather is turning hot (well, it is coming into summer) and I hate it! Apart from my apparent inability to sweat properly due to ichthyosis vulgaris, mosquitoes love me and my O+ blood. H thinks it's also a case of Viet cuisine being awfully tasty in warm weather. But the really shit thing is the immune response I have in response to the little bastards.

Last week I got one on my knee and this is what it looked like without scratching, about 10 minutes after the bite.

You can see the classic signs of a Type I Hypersensitivity right there - the raised wheal in the centre surrounded by red flare (outlined) caused by vascular leakage. It kinda looks like computer game alien.

Later in the week, I acquired some more bites on my legs and they ended up looked like this.

You can see the flare on these bastards very easily! Having the bites so closed to each other caused localised oedema in my legs so they looked all lumpy and actually kinda hurt to touch. Curse that IgE/Mast cell activation!

I'm currently in the last phase of the reaction. The bites aren't itchy anymore, but all that red vascular leakage has made my legs look like they're covered in bruises.

Okay, that's all I needed to whine about!