Skin Rash on face

[Sourbubbles]

I have had this rash on my face for some time. I'd say 18 months, to 2 years.

Symptoms:
I have this red rash (as seen in the picture) that sometimes peels, and on rare occasions itches. It often becomes sore if I wash it with any kind of soap. If I just leave it alone most of the skin appears smooth, but in the crease on the side of my nose dead skin flakes off. Peeling rarely happens anywhere else.

It use to be just on the side, and end of my nose. Now it has spread to my cheeks below my eyes, and down around the sides of my mouth and my upper lips.

I had a hunch it was seborrhea but in pictures I see of that they never look as prominent, or as red. I also read that seborrhea normally affects other places on the body (scalp, upper torso) which I completely lack. I have only very, very mild dandruff which is unnoticeable unless you look for it. Also, the reaction to the treatments I've tried makes me wonder.


Treatment History:

I've tried several things.

I tried several natural anti-fungals including: Witch Hazel, Tea Tree oil, and Coconut oil. All to no effect.

I tried several anti-dandruff shampoos because of a hunch. Mostly they somewhat helped while in use, but the effect was very temporary and never completely masked the symptoms. (This involved both tar and zinc, commonly used for seborrhea) They also caused significant irritation, and sometimes even pain, and took days to help at all. Persistent applications for weeks showed no further improvement.

A simple generic anti-fungal cream from wal-mart cleared it up completely, and immediately while being used, and for about 2 weeks afterwords. But then it came back, in some areas and not in others. It also appeared in new areas down around my mouth.


Questions:

What causes symptoms like this? And why after over a year of having a very small rash is it starting to grow considerably?

I read somewhere that there are fungal infections that have these symptoms that are embedded deep in hair follicles, causing topical creams, like the one I tried, to only work temporally until the fungus regrows.

[Sourbubbles]

Does Rosacea respond positively to topical anti-fungals? That would be the reason I wouldn't have guessed that.

Update: The skin along my upper lip, and around the side of my mouth, feels very dry and is starting to crack.

[Rocky835]

You might check with your dermatologist to see if it is Rosacea. I have it with very much the same symptoms if I don't treat it.  Very easy to control with Metrocream (prescription).  Hope this helps.