My Story - Red, itchy skin on face

[Pilot2020]

Hoping my story saves some heartache and trouble for people who experience red, itchy skin on their face like I did.

Over the last few years, my face started becoming very itchy and red, causing me much aggravation and suffering. Medication provided initial relief, but then stopped working. After lengthy suffering, countless visits to dermatologists, and a tremendous stockpile of various prescription medications in my bathroom, I finally discovered the cause and am thrilled to have my skin healthy again.

Although, I written the whole story below, I’m going to give you the bottom line right now:

I’d developed a sensitivity to propylene glycol and/or parabens. I was also surprised to learn that these ingredients are in a lot of the products we put on our faces.

Prior to discovering the cause, I was misdiagnosed and told over and over again by doctors and physician’s assistants that I could do nothing about it except find a prescription medication that worked for me, and then, at best it would only control the itchiness and redness, not cure it.

I want to stress that you may suffer from a skin condition different from the one I was misdiagnosed with, so who knows if my story will help you. I do know that had I accepted what the doctor told me, I’d still be suffering, so you owe it to yourself, no matter what the diagnosis is, to think for yourself and do the research to ensure there are not alternate solutions or perhaps other culprits that may cause your condition versus what your doctor says.

Here’s a bit of background:

-It started as a slight redness to my facial skin, mostly cheeks, that itched a lot
-At its worse, toward the end, my face would burn when I sweated when working out, which I do often
-Dermatologist diagnosed it as seborrheic dermatitis and said there was no cure, only control
-Doctor initially prescribed desonide lotion, which worked quite well. He also gave me anti-fungal creams, which didn’t work as well as the desonide
-The doctor cautioned me not to use it too much desonide due to the steroid in it. He said once a day was fine
-I used for a year or so and it kept my skin looking decent until I noticed that I seemed to need to use it more often.
-I also educated myself about topical steroids and became concerned that I was using too much, but whenever I’d try to wean myself from it, my skin was itchier and redder than it ever had been before
-Voicing my concerns to the doctor, or one of his PAs, prescribed other medications to try including Xolegel, Ketoconazole 2% Cream, and others
-Every time I time I tried to stop the desonide, and only use one of the anti-fungal creams, my skin flared up and became inflamed.
-I went to an allergist to see if I was allergic to anything and all tests came back negative
-Over time, the redness and itchiness had spread to my forehead, nose as well.

Finally, at wit’s end, I went to another dermatologist for a second opinion. I told her I just didn’t believe that there was nothing that could be done for my skin and I really wanted her to keep an open mind when diagnosing me. Plus, I didn’t seem to have the scaling that other’s had for seborrheic dermatitis. It had to be something else.

She took her time with me and really scrutinized my skin. I told her all the medications I’d tried. At first she thought it could be steroid induced rosacea from the topicals I’d been using. I agreed to stop the topical steroids although she warned me that my skin may get worse before it got better. She also told me to wash with Cetaphil cleanser and then put Cetaphil cream on my face after washing.

I did as she ask, but it didn’t get better. And I noticed that when I put the Cetaphil cream on, my face flared up even worse. I tried other lotions, many of them my wife’s facial lotions that were supposed to be good, or so I thought, such as Clinique’s dramatically different moisturizing lotion, Philosophy’s Hope in a Jar, Aveeno, and others. All had the same reaction, to inflame my face.

I finally sucked it up and put nothing on my face, but in addition to my face being read, and very itchy it was also supremely dry. But in doing so, with the redness in full bloom, it allowed me to see a pattern on my face. I had no problem with the skin around my eyes, or on my neck. I realized then, the redness was only in the areas where I always put lotion on my face, whether it was the desonide or some other lotion.

Even though my initial itchiness and redness had been on the checks, I had become so dependent on the topical steroid, that anytime I had any redness elsewhere, like forehead, or nose, I started using it there also.

When I pointed this out to my new dermatologist, something clicked, and she said she now thought I had developed a sensitivity to propylene glycol (which is the same thing they use in anti-freeze) and/or parabens. She gave me samples of EpiCerem, but told me it was a bit expensive and to try to find lotions that did not have the PG and parabens in them.

Here’s the kicker: I went home and check all the ingredients of the prescription medicines and all the lotions I’d used, including the Cetaphil products. They all had propylene glycol in them—desonide, anti-fungal creams, Cetaphil products, Clinique’s moisturizer. The Aveeno didn’t, but it had parabens.

I believe the propylene glycol in the desonide was really doing a number on my face for a long time, however, because the steroid reduced redness, it was hidden. So over time, I was damaging my skin, but unaware because the steroid masked it.

I searched high and low for products without propylene glycol  and parabens in them, but they are very difficult to find. One product was Malibu C’s sensitive  Skin Oil Free Moisterizer. But the price tag made me reluctant to try it.

I finally settled on Exederm’s moisturizer and baby wash:

Using propylene glycol and paraben-free products have made all the difference in the world to my skin. However, I’m always paranoid that products I like will get discontinued so I’m searching for alternatives.

I hope this helps people and I’m interested to know of other products that are propylene glycol and paraben-free. I even changed the hair gel I used to a propylene glycol-free one and now my head itches much less.

[Pilot2020]

Sorry to hear that, Feeriswheel1. I know it is a pain.

My redness started to come back after a while and I once again started to experiment. I finally started using Born to be Mild medicated face and body  wash from DermaDoctor and have not had any redness since then. It may take a week to see the results. I use it twice a day.

Good luck!

[Feeriswheel1]

your story is exactly, point on to the T, what i am going through right now with the desonide lotion. Same length of use, same diagnoses, and now the same problem after stopping the desonide. Has your face healed to this day and if so what are some more of your tips? Thank You

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
The symptoms that you have mentioned point towards allergic reaction to the chemical propylene glycol or it can be due to atopic dermatitis. Try avoiding harsh soaps and cleansers, preventing scratching or rubbing whenever possible, protecting skin from excessive moisture, irritants, and rough clothing, maintaining a cool, stable temperature and consistent humidity levels, limiting exposure to dust, cigarette smoke, pollens, and animal dander & Recognizing and limiting emotional stress.
If the symptoms are severe then please get it seen from a dermatologist.
It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.