Aa
Stubborn Skin condition
I am a 24 year old female. At the age of 12 I started getting a red discoloration on my cheeks, slightly above my eyebrows, and a little on my chin which was slightly flaky. I do have dandruff in my hair. I was diagnosed with Seborrheic Dermatitis by my dermatologist at the age of 21. Not knowing any better when I was younger I tried everything over the counter for acne, but I didn't have acne. I definitely do not have rosacea because I never got pustules.
I have tried:
Metrogel
Finacea
Desonate
Nizoral Shampoo on my face
head and shoulders on my face
and Desonide lotion.
the only thing that works is desonide lotion. I am so sad to find out that using this long term has bad side effects.
My Question is:
Is there anything I can do in combination with the desonide?
I read on about.com that using a corticosteroid should only be used to reduced the redness and then use dandruff shampoo for maintenance , but like I said the dandruff shampoo is not working, it is actually making things more red and it slightly burns.
Is there an alternative to Desonide? That will give me the same results and not ruin my skin later in life?
I attached a photo so everyone could see my red face :(
I have tried:
Metrogel
Finacea
Desonate
Nizoral Shampoo on my face
head and shoulders on my face
and Desonide lotion.
the only thing that works is desonide lotion. I am so sad to find out that using this long term has bad side effects.
My Question is:
Is there anything I can do in combination with the desonide?
I read on about.com that using a corticosteroid should only be used to reduced the redness and then use dandruff shampoo for maintenance , but like I said the dandruff shampoo is not working, it is actually making things more red and it slightly burns.
Is there an alternative to Desonide? That will give me the same results and not ruin my skin later in life?
I attached a photo so everyone could see my red face :(
Best Answer
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello,
People with seborrheic dermatitis produce too much sebum (the natural skin oil). Later, pityrosporum yeast grows excessively in the sebum, sometime along with bacteria, making the dermatitis more persistent.
You are advised not to use topical steroids for a long time as it may cause skin atrophy, thinning, increased fragility and steroid induced rosacea. Treatment usually involves use of antifungal, anti inflammatory and sebo suppressive or Keratolytic ingredients. Dermatologist also recommends the use of photodynamic therapy which involves the usage of UV- A, UV- B laser, pulse therapy and red or blue LED light to inhibit the growth of the yeast and reduces the inflammation.
Adjuvant therapy includes use of dandruff shampoo, an antifungal agent or both are essential during the pulse therapy and should be continued here after as maintenance therapy after each pulse. Anti fungal diet includes the elimination of sugar should reduce seborrhoeic dermatitis. Application of milk of magnesia is also found to be useful in the treatment of seborrhea.
Try these after consulting your doctor. Oral antifungal drugs and immunomodulators such as tacrolimus and pimecrolimus are used in very severe cases. But this should be the last resort.
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.
People with seborrheic dermatitis produce too much sebum (the natural skin oil). Later, pityrosporum yeast grows excessively in the sebum, sometime along with bacteria, making the dermatitis more persistent.
You are advised not to use topical steroids for a long time as it may cause skin atrophy, thinning, increased fragility and steroid induced rosacea. Treatment usually involves use of antifungal, anti inflammatory and sebo suppressive or Keratolytic ingredients. Dermatologist also recommends the use of photodynamic therapy which involves the usage of UV- A, UV- B laser, pulse therapy and red or blue LED light to inhibit the growth of the yeast and reduces the inflammation.
Adjuvant therapy includes use of dandruff shampoo, an antifungal agent or both are essential during the pulse therapy and should be continued here after as maintenance therapy after each pulse. Anti fungal diet includes the elimination of sugar should reduce seborrhoeic dermatitis. Application of milk of magnesia is also found to be useful in the treatment of seborrhea.
Try these after consulting your doctor. Oral antifungal drugs and immunomodulators such as tacrolimus and pimecrolimus are used in very severe cases. But this should be the last resort.
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.
I am glad to hear your little boy is doing a little better.
I have 2 little girls. One turns 4 at the end of this month and my baby is 2 and a half now.
My seborrheic dermatitis is extremely embarrassing. When I got it at 12 I used to get made fun of for it all the time because of that I have really low self esteem. Experimenting with different prescriptions, OTC medications and doctors has gotten to be so expensive. I just wish there was someone to be like "oh, you got seborrheic dermatitis? try this!" and it actually works for once. I would like to be comfortable in my own skin again.
I will definitely try the P&S Liquid Solution. If it works you'll become my hero, lol. Probably wont be able to buy it for a little while. I already spent 30.00 for treatments this month and with my daughters birthday coming up all the money is going towards her party.
Thanks for your help :)
I have 2 little girls. One turns 4 at the end of this month and my baby is 2 and a half now.
My seborrheic dermatitis is extremely embarrassing. When I got it at 12 I used to get made fun of for it all the time because of that I have really low self esteem. Experimenting with different prescriptions, OTC medications and doctors has gotten to be so expensive. I just wish there was someone to be like "oh, you got seborrheic dermatitis? try this!" and it actually works for once. I would like to be comfortable in my own skin again.
I will definitely try the P&S Liquid Solution. If it works you'll become my hero, lol. Probably wont be able to buy it for a little while. I already spent 30.00 for treatments this month and with my daughters birthday coming up all the money is going towards her party.
Thanks for your help :)
Oh, and it's a bit unrelated, but he's feeling a little better this afternoon now that his daddy's home :)
if you can give me a little while, I'll get you some info to answer your questions. I apologize for not getting to it sooner. I have a little one sick today (his pic is my avitar pic).
I should be able to get something up for you within the next hour or so :)
I should be able to get something up for you within the next hour or so :)
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I had to do a little reading since I'm not very familiar with treatments for this, but several websites say very similar things, that
it turns out that using Desonide for long term is not advised, and the reason they use it only short term is because there can be a "rebound' effect where your condition actually worsens to the same or worse than it was before treatment.
There are other corticosteroid treatments that are used to help calm the inflammation and those are listed on the site I'm referencing.
Do you have "cycles" where it gets better some seasons then gets worse others?
They mention P&S solution for the scalp. I know from experience that this helps ALOT with severe dandruff. With my skin condition it affects my scalp as well as the rest of my body and causes the skin in those areas to build up. I used to have to use a fine toothed comb to comb my hair so that I didn't have any flakes, but P&S solution basically gets rid of it and it's in a 2step shampoo and conditioner. I know how much of a pain it is to have something obvious on your face, something that ppl may noticed when they first meet you because I get funny looks myself until I explain a little...(and it gets annoying! lol)
Check with your doctor first, but maybe you could try P&S on a small spot on your face and see if it helps at all.
There are all sorts of treaments out there and new ones being developed for alot of different skin disorders, so don't give up hope.
I'm going to continue looking around for more detailed info for you but as I said my time today (and probably the next couple days) is limited due to a sick baby here at home.
I'd suggest that you go over to the "Ask an Expert Dermatology" forum, you may get more information over there. I'm not a doctor, just someone who has an idea of how you feel.
TTYL
Cindie (Martikadragoon, CL of Dermatology Forum)
P.S.... we're nearly the same age, I'll be 24 in a few months :)