Red, irritated face

[cbgal]

I went to a dermatologist about 2 months ago about my face. It started out just as redness around my nose. Then it spread to my chin, around my mouth, on my nose, on my forehead, and between my eyes.  It is red, itches, is very sore, and has very small bumps. I was diagnosed with Seborrheic Dermatitis.I am washing with Sulfo-Lo soap and have tried Ala-Cort, Finacea, and Fluticasone Propionate Cream 0.05%. I have also had 30 days of Minocycline. But, nothing has worked.  Please help. This is driving me crazy.

[FleeMan]

I am not a medical doctor, and have no knowledge of the subject except my own experience.  My opinion should NOT be taken as trained medical advice.  

I have been using over-the-counter Curel Intesive Care from Wal-mart for about 6 months now to effectively keep my SD at bay. Curel is good because it is dermatologist tested for use on the face. I have to apply it once a day, usually in the mornings.  Keep in mind that while it is thought that you cannot give this disease to others, you could possibly cause it to spread on yourself.  You should have careful wipe paterns when you apply anything topically to SD infected areas with the idea of starting to wipe on a non-diseased area and moving toward diseased skin.  If you do the opposite you are pushing the sluff from the disease skin onto non-diseased areas and trapping it there with the lotion.  From my experience, if you cross contaminate clean lotion with the lotion on your finger/hand that has already wiped diseased areas, you will cause SD to spread.  When I apply the lotion, I put some in the palm of one hand.  I use all four fingers of the opposing hand individually to apply it to my face, using a different finger each time I apply to a different part of my face.  I do not reuse the lotion on that finger once it has been used.  Once all four fingers have been contaminated by applying lotion to a diseased part of my face, I wash them with soap and water.  I repeat the process until all of the parts of my face THAT NEED IT are medicated with the Curel lotion sufficiently.  Presence of mind is important. Otherwise you can accidently cross contaminate nondiseased, or minimally diseased skin areas with lotion from worse areas.  So far, I avoid 90% of the heartache I previously experienced with SD.  I have had SD for about 2 1/2 years, so I know what it is like to NOT treat it and live with it.  Also, keep in mind, that any treatment of SD using topical lotions can cause it to spread slowly (or quickly if your not careful).  This threat must be weighed in the light of the severity of the current impact of the symptoms on a persons life.  It is also good to know that SD is commonly thought to be worse in the winter than in the summer.

By the way, do you happen to have a gastrointestinal disorder?  It is possible that as much as 80% of SD suffers have some GI disorder, so there may be a link between the two.

"http://www.nextbio.com/b/literature/literature.nb?id=18837699&query=%22seborrheic%22+gastrointestinal&author="

[Vanessa Lacuesta]

Hi

Seborrheic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition. Which means that this may persist for quite some time .There is really no single definite treatment for this condition. A fungal component has been identified to be associated with this. For seborrheic dermatitis, washing the face frequently and vigorously may be able to help. If the skin condition persisted despite the medications then this needs to be reassessed. Other differentials will be rosacea and perioral dermatitis.