Facial redness and irritation

[Regular Joe]

I'm a 27 yr-old, married, white male.  For the last year I have had bilaterally symmetric facial redness on either side of my nose across my cheekbones.  This is mildly irritating (I can feel it there but I do not usually feel the need to scrtach it). I was diagnosed with eczema by a dermatologist based on visual appearance and history.  I have been applying a mild to moderately potent topical steroid (desonide 0.05%) twice a day with some improvement but the conidtion waxes and wanes regardless or what I do.  My condition improves markedly when I sit on a cool, breezy west-coast beach.  I am a moderate drinker (2-3 drinks/day 5-days per week).  Overall, I'd say my coniditon has worsened over the past year.  I have no other health problems.  I do not smoke.  Here are my various questions/concerns:

1) This condition started after I moved from the Midwest to California (I previously lived in CA for 20 years and never had this condition).  About that same time my symptoms started I (stupidly) mouth-syphoned some gasoline and swallowed about 2 tablespoons.  Could benzene exposure cause this sudden acquired skin condition?

2) Can a subclinical hepatopathy cause this sort of facial irritaion?

3) I have recently started taking omega-3 fatty acids supplements on my own initiative, has your experience shown this may help?

4) Is it fairly common for a 26yr old to have a sudden onset of acquired facial eczema?  If so what things are known to trigger this?

Thank you for breifly addressing each of my questions.  I know there are a quite a few, but I am very frusterated with this condition and becoming desperate to find an underlying cause.  I will be consulting again with another dermatologist soon but would appreciate any insight you can offer.  Thank you for your time.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Redness without scaling sounds more like your skin type than a disease.

I can't think of any connection with ingested gasoline, nor with liver disease that isn't otherwise evident.  (You can always ask the next doctor you see to do a liver test, just so you'll know.  But I don't think of liver disease when I see red faces.)

I don't know of any effect of onega-3's on redness.

Eczema can appear at any age, but as I said, I'm not at all sure that's what you have.

People don't like redness, but it's not obvious to me why this symptom is causing you to become "desperate."  That seems a bit of an overreaction.

By all means see a dermatologist as soon as you can.  But you may have to accept that your skin is red, and flushes when you're hot, etc.  Women embarrassed by redness wear makeup.  Men rarely do.  Laser treatment may also end up being at least a partial option.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[TheDodge]

Hey, you MAY have a genetic skin condition call Rosacea.  Rosacea is common in those of Nordic/Celtic fair skin genetic ancestry, and frequently shows itself in the late 20's to mid 30's through redness of the cheeks and nose (conspicuous lack of redness in the eye socket area almost as if you were wearing thin suglasses and got sunburned the day before).  General ignorance over the condition results in its mistaken attribution to alcoholism, even in medical texts today (however an existing case can be aggravated by even a little drinking (1 drink), especially red wine).  I have the same condition as you describe, which started when I turned 30 or so, and generally gets worse when I travel to the West Coast.  Humid areas tend to lessen the effect (hence the humidity of the Pacific breeze contrasts with the general dryness of the California region) of the redness and dry areas increase the redness.  Topical steriods can make the redness go away, but the Rosacea texts say that the condition only comes back with a vengance once you stop using the topical steriod.  The typcial treatment for Rosacea, until they understand the condition better, is one of the series of derivatives of Tetracycline, which supposedly kills the bacteria which secrete an enzyme which your face skin is sensitive to, as well as have an overall anti-inflammatory affect on all the small blood vessels in the body.  There are also antibiotic topical creams as well.

If you have Rosacea, and this of course is not a diagnosis by any means (dermatologist have made great strides on this over the last 10 years), then eventually the capillaries in cheeks and the nose will begin to grow close to the surface of the skin and make the skin appear to be red, even when you are not having an outbreak:

Then you will have to put up with these statements on a daily basis:

1.  Somebody has been golfing a bit too much eh? (I don't golf)2.  Man you got some sun this weekend !!(stayed indoors all weekend)
3.  Sheez man, did you go out drinking last night????  You are red!!! (I don't drink, had a beer maybe two years ago once)
4.  Let's take a break, Mr. _______ is looking a bit stressed.....(I am totally unaware that I look this way)

And of course EVERYONE is an expert as to why my cheeks are red....(Aloe Vera will clear that right up!....stop eating peppers...stop drinking coffee.....you need to do yoga......and all the other usual suspects resorted to by the clueless)

I have had clients not rehire us because they thought that I was always out drinking the night before our meetings (asked one of our associates about it).

Can you tell I HATE having this?  If this condition WERE caused by a person (and of course it is not) I would sue them for at least $750,000 in lost work revenue, and life impact.....no kidding....

I have the outbreaks under control with Doxycyline and Metrogel, I keep well hydrated all day and avoid spicy foods coffee, and too much wind.....(these things only cause it to flare up about an hour or two and are not REALLY the cause of outbreaks)

I HAVE however found some linkage between outbreaks and turmoil in the intestines.  I am experimenting with cutting out various foods to see if I have a sensitivity.  Right now, cutting out wheat dairy and potato all seem to lessen the outbreaks (and reduce the congestion in my sinuses as well)....but I have a long way to go with this.

......but the capillary based redness remains.  I am currently seeking ways to get the redness of the walls of the capillaries reduced through either a vein fading technique or one of the laser treatments...but have not gotten a complete anwer from my Dermatologist yet.

Hope that helps.....or at least makes information available...sorry for laying out the negative aspects so bluntly, if indeed you do have Rosacea.

[Sylvia S.]

In reply to "Regular Joe".  
I am no 49 years old, white woman, living in Western Canada.  Having had skin problems similar to those you describe for years, I decided to write. In my case the redness and burning is usually worst after the shower, and I find that some soaps and shampoos are worse then others for this to follow. I do have other allergies as well so this is not really surprising. Regular daily use of hypoallergenic moisture cream (Marcelle Moisture Cream) along with a prescribed cream (Westcort 0.2% Hydrocortisone-17-Valerate 0.2%; applied sparingly only on the worst affected area) seem to be helping. When I try to get away from the prescribed cream, although I use very little of it, I break out in sores, burning and itching.  I have had this for over ten years now, and it has not gone away, but is tolerable as long as I use the two creams regularly.  Definitely work with your dermatologist on this.  Good luck.

[Facer]

I too like Regular Joe suffer from the same symptoms.  I am 34 years old and battling this facial redness for about 1-1/2 years. Initially, I ended up with the dermatologist for a dry spot on my face and ended up consulting for slight redness, hardly noticeable.  He diagnosed me with early symptoms of rosceaca and prescriped some topical lotion.  The lotion caused a reaction making it even worst, the redness got worst.  Went for a second consultation but the next prescription didn't work either.  I went to a second dermatologist for a second opinion and he diagnosed me with sebohreic dermatitis.  After a year of trying every prescription cortisone or not, I am almost given up.  I searched for stuff on the internet and found San Savita website which highly recommended their Dermazinc cream.  It alleviates the itching and flaking, but the redness is still there.  I have concerns because it has Clobetasol Propionate and according to a posting, it's strong stuff.  I have been using this for a while now.  I want to go see my original derma, but I'am afraid that I will continue spending my money for them to prescribe different medications that won't work.  Should I look for a different Derm or continue going to the second one who already knows every med he has prescibed and can continue trying other stuff?  Thank You.

[teenager62592]

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[wrapyourwires]

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