Skin Camouflage

I got skin camo! It's taken a while, what with getting the guts to ask for it and moving house and changing GPs and everything, but I finally have it in my possession.
For those who don't know, skin camouflage is a special high-pigment makeup designed to cover scars and tattoos and other areas of skin we might not want on show. It's better than normal concealer or foundation makeup and it's waterproof  - you can wear it whilst swimming. It's available on NHS prescription or you can buy it direct from a supplier such as Charles Fox or the Backstage Shop.
I went to my GP and asked for a referral to the Red Cross skin camouflage service. Initally my GP hadn't heard of it so I had to find out the address of the nearest clinic and go back to my GP with the info so she could do the referral. There is a good section on the Red Cross website here where you can type in your postcode and click 'skin camouflage' and it will bring up your nearest service.
At my appointment I was really nervous because although I wear 3/4 length sleeves these days without too much trouble, I never show my legs or upper arms in public. But she was absolutely brilliant and didn't bat an eyelid or ask any intrusive questions. She went through each area I wanted covered and found the right colours to match each part, then showed me how to apply the makeup and let me have a practice so I felt comfortable with doing it myself.
Then she gave me a form to give back to my GP so that I could get the prescription, and that was it, done.

It will take a bit of practice to get it perfect, especially in the trickier places where I'm applying it on my right arm with my left hand which I found was a bit of a cackhanded affair, but I'm getting better at it each time I try it. I can see myself in the swimming pool within a couple of weeks - I can't wait!

I've done some before and after pictures to show how well it works and perhaps to encourage people to try it who aren't sure about what can be achieved. I do need to do a disclaimer here: I thought for a very long time about whether to do pictures or not because it's a very personal thing to have pics of my scars on the internet, I may as well be naked! Also I didn't want them to be interpreted as gratuitous or attention-seeking in any way, and I've tried to do the pictures in such a way that you can't tell whether it's an arm or a leg or an ear or whatever so no assumptions on any score please. And I must add I chose these pictures because with my limited photography skills they're the ones that showed the makeup best - they are not my "best" or "worst" scars, they are not indicative of anything, they are not significant in any way other than they were the best pictures for the job.
So with all that in mind: look how awesome this stuff is!

It's worth bearing in mind make-up can only do so much, it can't cover dents or ridges (unless you get into the realm of putty and plastic and stuff) so raised scars or dents will still show, which is why some areas in the pics still stand out a bit because the raised bits are catching the light. But I think you'll agree there's a massive difference, and it's certainly going to reduce the stares in the swimming pool.

EDIT:
Since I posted this, lots of people have said they want to try Dermacolor themselves without using the Red Cross service. I would really recommend getting a Red Cross referral if you possibly can because then you can be sure of getting a decent colour match. Tester kits are available to try out at home but they don't have all the possible colours available and colour matching might still be difficult. I have 4 different colours for different areas, and two of those I need to mix to make a 5th colour - I'd never have been able to figure all that out for myself, the Red Cross appointment was invaluable.
However for those of you who are going to try it alone, I really recommend this website www.dermacolor-camouflage.com it has detailed instructions on the application as well as step-by-step pictures and loads of other info.
Also feel free to email me [address on profile page] or tweet me @Aliquant if anyone has any questions, I'm still a newbie at this but I'll try to help if I can.
And I'm really pleased so many people have said they're going to try it - I wish for everyone that one day we'll all feel OK with not covering up, but until then good luck to everyone who's trying it. Here's to a cardigan-free Summer!