The cream is excellent stuff, but he has to be careful not to use too much as apparently it thins the skin, so he's dropped to using it once a day now.

YES! That's exactly what was annoying about Photobucket. I used them a lot, for both personal things and fannish so had two accounts, then suddenly they went paid only. I tried to download the photos I had, but like you, I couldn't without paying for the privilege. If they had given a warning period, I would have thought much better of them.

Up until recently my hosted stuff was still being shown but with a watermark, now they're gone completely.

Sadly I had no backup as I saved the banner a few computers ago.