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Seborrheic dermatitis in eyebrows-- desperate for help

Hi Doctor,
I have a bad case of seborrheic dermatitis in my eyebrows. I tried Desonide, which helped, but when I switched to Elidel, it wasn't successful in controlling my seb derm. And my derm told me to switch back to desonide.

~10 days, twice daily desonide
~2-3 weeks twice daily Elidel
~10 days twice daily desonide+salycylic acid, 6%
~a few days Elidel

My treatment has probably gone on for a little over six weeks total (which is what's listed about).

1. One concern: the damage I've done by using steriod creams: Do I get, say, a lifetime's limit of six weeks of desonide, of which I've exhausted a little over two weeks? Or do I start over on a clean slate once I've stopped desonide for maybe a couple of weeks? (Not that I plan to use it all the time, I would just like as clean a slate as possible.) What's the longest I can use desonide safely?


2. 2nd concern: How do I get these flakes off? I have them covering the first halves of both my eyebrows, and spanning the entire witdth. I've had some for over a week, almost two weeks. I've gotten some pretty ignorant advice from the derm (like rubbing off the flakes-- which would induce traction alopecia). I havea feeling that osme of the flakes stayed because the steroid cream+salicylic just sat on the flakes and built up. I would like to remove the flakes with as little mechanic pressure as possible and with as little hair loss as possible.

3. I am thinking of just using tea tree oil shampoo everyday + the following supplements:
a. multivitamins
b. probiotic (acidophilus)
c. cod liver oil tablets
d. evening primrose oil tablets

What do you think? I have some nizoral from an old prescription from my previous derm (well not that old, just a few months old-- had to change docs because I moved)-- do you think I should also start using that in addition to the tea tree oil shampoo?

4. Have you heard of eye twitching being associated with Elidel, salicylic acid, desonide, or seb derm itself? I have had more frequent eye twitching in one eye.

5. How much hope do I have for controlling this? This is my first winter with it and it has been pretty bad. I can't really control the fact that I have stress or that the weather gets bad here in winter. It's to the point where I avoid people and just get depressed about this all the time. Please help. It's depressing that even my dermatologist gave up on me, he told me to seek advice elsewhere because he wasn't willing to prescribe anything else. He seems to only be addressing the immuno part without addressing the fungal part.

Any advice will be much appreciated. While I can't help you directly in return since you are the doctor and you know more than I do, I will definitely pay it forward with your help in mind!
16 Responses
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Avatar universal
I feel your pain my dermatologist has done the same thing it’s very depressing and sad and people just don’t understand how it feels and why your so sad and don’t wanna go anywhere.. I hope it gets better for you
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That was Oct/Nov 1014..insidently
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Edit to above post...losing me marbles too by looking at what I wrote earlier. I don't know where I got 2010 from!! I gave up drinking on Feb. 28th 2012 and after months of appointments and a liver biopsy, I started therapy on Feb. 2013. and it was around Oct /Nov I had the 9 months all clear...I think!?..lol. and thinking back now I was on treatment when I wrote that post. Which makes sense because I had hardly any energy and sat at pc most days. Sorry for any confusion...
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Avatar universal
Hi Anne, I too was offered Nizoral and my skin reacted very badly too it. Making the inflamed areas even redder and angrier. I think the condition itself is fungal of some type. But as I said the only treatment that cleared it was Selsun Shampoo. Not Selsun Blue! As that didn't help either. The only other thing I use now, if I get the occasional flare up around my nose etc, is canesten HC cream, which, I only need to use once in a blue moon.

However, you've heard the saying if it doesn't rain it pours. Since my post back in 2010, I was diagnosed with having problems with my liver. Because my self esteem was that low, the only way to get any kind of confidence, for me was out of a bottle! and I don't mean pop.Basically my liver was struggling so much that pre cancer cells had developed on my liver. On Feb 2112 I had to give up drinking for 12 months before they would consider putting me on anti-cancer therapy. Which I did and started the 11 months therapy. Now the therapy itself, was HELL. My skin was grey, I itched constantly all over, I had the most disturbing mood swings, my skin became very thin, the skin just peeled away from my shin one day when I pulling up me socks! And to top it off I had hair loss!, from my scalp, my legs and surprise surprise, my eyebrows! I became a total recluse. However 3 years on and I'm still here to tell the tale. I finished the course and 3 months ago had my 9 months all clear. As for the brows well, a few have grown back, but nothing to write home about. I suppose the only thing, that helps me these days is the fact I was diagnosed with being long sighted, so I need to Wear glasses, the hair on my head is now even greyer, but then so are the few hairs I have left, in my brows. I did try using just for men to try colour the few hairs, but all it does is highlight the lack of hairs. So I'm done with all that. Some thing are hard to except. But now at this moment in time, I'm grateful for still being alive. I've learned to except, it is what it is and no longer obsess over them. I'm now 50 and have spent almost half those years, constantly thinking, worrying, obsessing over eyebrows!! No more. I'm feeling allot stronger these days. And I refuse to waste anymore years on this, life changing affliction. For me now, it's closure, not the closure I was hoping for, but closure none the less..

Kind regards
Mark
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Avatar universal
ive had problems with sebhorric dermatitis on my forehead and corners of my nose.  for the past year ive been keeping it at bay by 1) washing my face in the morning with a foam cleanser
2) applying a few drops of tea tree oil in the flakey red areas
3) light moisturizer

it really works. skin feels smooth,  no flakes or bumps and redness is reduced. just really worried about whether tea tree oil is safe now, after an article i read said it may not be. look it up and decide for yourself. people say its natural

maybe dilute the tea tree oil with another thing to make it safer?
i dont know what ill do if this solution isnt safe, it is the ONLY thing thats worked for me. ive tried a lot of things.
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Avatar universal
It's amazing how difficult it is to find information on eyebrow problems. I just did a search for Nazoral for eyebrows and found this group! I think I saw something about Selsun Blue for eyebrows and decided to try Nazoral because it used to be a prescription. I'm 62 and my problems probably started with menopause. I was getting ingrown hairs and small white bumps in my eyebrows suddenly, and now I've lost a fair amount of hair. Even though I'm a woman, I totally relate to madg48. So, the Nazoral has helped a lot. I even use it on my nose and chin. I spent a lot of money seeing dermatologists, trying different prescriptions and even getting some steroid injections, and none of them worked!

However, right now I'm having a reaction to something, but it's only one eyebrow. I'm having swelling just over the top of it. I'm worried it's a reaction to the Nazoral, but I've also used eyebrow pencil, powder and even some kind of gel. But it's not really in a spot where I use any of these products, just right next to them. I know this sounds horrible, but it bothered me so much, I sterilized a needle with alcohol and poked the swelling in several places. I got some liquid out, but that's about it.

Now, I'm kind of afraid to do anything, and talk about frustrated! On the other hand, my other eyebrow and face were doing so well, I hate to completely give it up. And why can't doctors do a better job with this?! I feel like I'm the only one who has it and they're just throwing stuff at me, hoping something will work. It's almost like they don't care.
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Avatar universal
Thanks for sharing your story! I also have seborrheic dermatitis and fully understand the toll it takes on ones self esteem. In my case the flare ups were directly related to an overgrowth of yeast in my gut called Candida. Shampoos never worked for me so I cut all sugar out of my diet. Two weeks later I felt like a million bucks and the seborrhea was gone. It's a pain in the butt to eliminate sugar from your diet, but the outcome is amazing. Good luck, thanks again for sharing!
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Avatar universal
I am a 48 year old man. I have suffered Seborriec Dermatitis,for the past 25 years.It affected my face, mainly around my forehead,eyebrows,nose and scalp. At the time, any doctor I saw seemed to have very little or no sympathy what so ever towards my distress, back then I don't think that they even knew what it was and so I was palmed off with one steroid cream after another, to which had no real effect.As my condition spiraled out of control.people started to notice and would just stare.All I wanted to do was run and hide. Instead I had to endure every soul destroying encounter. Feeling humilliated and an outcast.I soon became very Introverted, as the hairs in my brows began to fall outs sometimes in clumps, which had become anchored to thick, hard yellowy-brown scabs.

I worried about this condition.to the extreme.I would  constantly be looking in the mirror,hoping to see an improvement, but all I could see was my condition getting worse. It caused me to stress and worry to the extent I would litteraly be sick and break down in tears. I found it almost impossible to talk about and I just couldnt find the right words,without going red in the face. Because I looked embarrassed,they all assumed that this was a result of actions inflicted by myself and would sooner mock and talk about me behind my back, rather than offer me help and advice.

It wasn’t until I found on online, Selenium sullphied shampoo, (Selsun) which had never been suggested to me before. Being as I had tried everything else, I decided to try it. To my amazement the effects were dramatic in the sense that it cleared the condition from my scalp within a week of using it,I tried to wash my eye brows in the lather in hope that it would help and to my surprise it did seem to work very well, however because of the length of time I have suffered the condition,I am still left with permanent bald, redened areas in and around my eyebrow area and the hairs still continue to fall out.What hairs do decide to grow back are very thin, grey/white, brittle and week, they grow back at funny angles, not following the natural hair line of my brow, to say that I feel like a circus freak is an understatement.And to add insult to injury, you can buy this shampoo over the counter at boots and some supermarket pharmacy's and costs around £1.50 for a small bottle! I hardly have any flare ups now, but as I said the damage had already been done.I approached a dermatologist asking whether I would be intiled to have a procedure called FUE implants. But I was told No because they consider it a cosmetic procedure and the NHS would not fund it. I tried a private clinic in London and one of the Doctors, Dr Reddy,who is apparently one of the best surgeons in this field, told me that beacause of the condition, (even though its now manageable) he could not be 100% sure that it would be successful, so he would not be able to help me. I have in the past bought minoxidil,5%, Which has in the past, helped some hairs grow back, but I know it's a never ending cycle, as more often than not the regrown hairs are stll weak and some just grow back in the wrong direction. Anyway that's my story, I hope that some of what I have written is of some help to fellow sufferers.

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Avatar universal
Hi,It's been  a while since any posts, but I recently have found a solution for my seborrheic dermatitis and wanted to share with somebody. My problem started six months ago with just two little pimples under my nose.  I put a prescription cortisone (mometasone furoate) on for a couple of days and it went away.  As soon as I stopped putting it on it came back.  Then new patches started in the chin area and under my eyes, then on the side of my nose and in between my eyebrows.  It is very frustrating and not a good idea to continue use of the cortisone.  I was putting generous amounts directly on dry clean skin and my skin started to look funny in those areas.  I have been to the dermatologist several times and given multiple creams, ranging from antiobiotic creams to anti yeast, and various cortisones.  No luck.  She put me on an antifungal medication and again no luck.  I saw an allergist, too.  It turns out I am allergic to all my skin care products I've been using for 22 years.  As a side note, I have since switched to organic skin care products called the Sheabutter line.  However, this didn't seem to matter as far as the seb dermatitis is concerned.  I am alternating now with my organic products and Neutragena products.  Anyway, for the last week I started washing my face with Selsun Blue medicated menthol shampoo.  I know you have tried Head N Shoulders, so maybe this won't work for you, but it did wonders for me.  I noticed a difference in the way my skin felt almost immediately, and the way it looked within a day.  For three days I washed morning and night and let it sit on the areas for about a minute before rinsing.  After I dried off I used Neutrogena toner (which stung a little) and let that dry.  Next I used the Neutrogena sensitive skin moisturizer.  After I felt that was well-absorbed I put on only the tiniest thin layer of my handy mometasone furoate.  Any cortisone will probably work.  For the last couple of days I have done somewhat of a "weening" with everything.  I use a very tiny drop of the Selsun Blue in the morning only and spread it thin and have not used the cortisone at all.  So far my skin has not looked this good since this all started.  I am back to normal and keeping my fingers crossed.  You will have more flaking during this process, but it is the means to an end.  A couple of times I used a coarse washcloth to remove the Selsun Blue and some of the skin with it.  I really think the most important part with the flaking is probably to put a generous amount of that moisturizer before any cortisone.  I am back to using my organic products today and my skin really looks great.  This is what prompted me to find somebody to write to today.  I wish anybody with this problem the best of luck and I hope what helped me will help them.
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Avatar universal
Hi, I have exact same problem ..can you get bak to me so we can get through this together ? I will tell you what I am trying or is helping and you do same. Thanks. (***@****)
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Help!
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Please help! I just had a whole chunk of hair loss today. I am desperate.
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Thanks. I haven't tried twice a day consistently but I did try that same shampoo (except the generic, Equate version), and that didn't help too much. Mine is a bit more severe than that unfortunately.

Any other advice? (Please, everyone, I am desperate. I don't like leaving the house anymore and this is really affecting my self-esteem. Although if you're a dermatologist, that would be a plus.)
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Avatar universal
I had a very mild case of seborrheic dermatitis last year. Minor amount of flaking in my eyebrows and also a bit on both sides of my nose (ie: the T area of my face was slightly red and flakey).

After reading somewhere that seborrheic dermatitis may be caused by a fungus, I started using the Head and Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo (which contains pyrithrione zinc). I massaged it into my skin twice a day for a few minutes while in the shower and then rinsed it off. To my suprise I started realizing good results after a few days, and it only took a couple weeks to be fully better.

Just wanted to let you know what worked for me. If your condition is more severe then it might not work for you, but I think it's worth a shot if you haven't already tried it.
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Avatar universal
(So far for this outbreak. For a previous, minor outbreak, I sporadically used 1% nizoral.)
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P.S. Forgot to mention this, that sequence of desonide/elidel/etc is my entire course of treatment so far.
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