Seborrheic Dermatitis

I went to yet another dermatologist the other day and received yet
another diagnosis. I have been told by dermatologists that I have
rosacea, that I don’t have rosacea but have seb derm, and now I
have
been told that I have both.

This last dermatologist I saw seemed to be a very pleasant person,
and she seemed to be listening to what I told her regarding my
previous visits to other dermatologists and the various treatments
I’ve tried. She even listened when I told her that I felt my
skin
problems could be induced by environmental causes (I first noticed
the redness and dryness about 2 months after moving into a new
apartment), stress, sleep problems, and diet (I mentioned the recent
research that indicated people not exposed to western diets have no

skin problems like acne and that high carb/high glycemic diets may
induce these skin problems.) I asked her what she thought of me
pursuing allergy testing, changing my diet, taking stress reductions
classes, etc. Her attitude was that it wouldn’t hurt but she
didn’t
seem to think it would do much good.

So after all that what did she do? Her face lit up and she
said, "I’ve got a great new topical medication for your seb
derm."
I said, "I bet your going to prescribe Protopic or Elidel."
That
kind of took the wind out of her sails. She said she thought I
should try Elidel and she gave me some samples. I’ve never tried
the
immunomodulator drugs. From what I’ve heard they work about as
well
as topical steroids but without the side effects. For the rosacea
she prescribed minocycline, something that’s been used for years.

As I was walking out of her office I realized how hopeless it is to
look for solutions from dermatologists. The depressing reality is
that the very best this profession has to offer is temporary relief
from some of the symptoms of these skin problems. These
dermatologists don’t know what causes these diseases (and
don’t seem
to care) and have no clue as to what might cure them. The approach
they take is like prescribing an aspirin for a brain tumor. The
aspirin might temporarily relieve the pain, but the brain tumor is
still there.

Because those in the field of dermatology ignore the possible causes
of skin diseases, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this field
never
cured a single skin disease from now until the end of time. But this
makes sense because the list of illnesses that modern medicine can
cure, beyond a few bacterial infections, is practically nil. And
often the drugs that dermatologists prescribe are worse than useless,
as they cause more harm than good. (Look at steroid induced rosacea
as one example.) I don’t think there’s a chance in hell this
topical
crap and antibiotics are going to solve our skin problems, but I
guarantee you it will cause other problems for some percentage of the
people who use them.

The moral of this story is that we will never find a solution to our
skin problems by going to dermatologists. They have absolutely no
financial interest in curing any of these diseases. This field has
changed very little in the last 50 years. As long as you keep coming
back, the dermatologists and drug companies are happy. The fact that
you aren’t makes no difference.

Our only hope is to pursue other avenues. I strongly recommend
people look into things like diet, stress, sleeping patterns and
their environment. I don’t think you can find a cure until you
find
a cause. So try to figure out what is causing your skin problems.
Look for any changes in your life that might have caused your skin
problems.

I have no answers except to say that looking to your dermatologist
for a cure will probably always be completely futile. It is a waste
of time, money and hope. You have to find the cure because no one in
the field of dermatology will. And after all, you care alot more
about your skin then your dermatologist ever will.

Dave

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2004 at 2:39 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.