lichen planus - basically (since all the online definitions I can find are full of medic-speak), it's an inherited, non-contagious auto-immune disorder that affects the skin.

In a nutshell, the body's immune cells start attacking the skin cells, and small lesions start forming. There's no known cure, and no known cause. It takes 1-2 years for the lesions to disappear, until the next time it recurs. In other words, it's a big mystery that doesn't go away.

What they do know is that it can be made worse by stress and high blood pressure, as well as allergic reactions to medication. With everything that's been happening around here, I'll give you a couple of guesses as to which of the above was a factor in my case...

At its worst, it can look like this. At the moment, it looks more like this on my legs.

My dad's had lichen planus since he was 14, but I had never had a problem with it until a few weeks ago.