I am white male, 42 yrs. since my early twenties, history with scalp seb, brought under control with daily neutrogina shampoo, havent had any probs with this in about 7 yrs, and continue daily shampoo. In mid twenties had occassional probs w/ seb derm on cheeks used cortaid w/ fair results, eventually more often, until mid thirties, when desonide was perscribed to treat varying degrees of occassional raised red patches at temples, hair line, cheeks,side burns area, and sometimes nose, usually with a symmetry to it. Have often noticed that it seems just the right amount of sunshine (about an hours worth now and then) also helped. I would use a very small amount of the desonide nearly every night (amounting to about 2 oz. per year) and this kept the problem well under control and I was happy.
Six months ago my dermatologist said I probably have rosacea and discontinued giving me desonide and put me on metrolotion which I used twice daily for four months. This seemed to make a moderate and tolerable situation much worse. with the metrolotion my face was totally red most of the time with an unusual hue. I finally stopped it and now have the same old symptoms and have been using the last of an old (1998) desonide. My question is if I have rosacea, what about the IPL therapy I have heard about, or other meds, and why shouldn't I go back to the desonide? Especially because I used only very small amounts? This is driving me crazy.