Dear Ralph
Thank you for answering.
My sebderm is not serious enough to go onto long term low dose
therapy. Really, I have it under control now (with anti-fungal) and
all I really have is extreme oiliness with cocommitant rosacea.
They say rosacea can cause your oil glands to expand (hyperactive
sebacea?). It is the oiliness that contributes to the sebderm flares.
I thought a normal/standard accutane treatment would bring this
symptom under control and thus alleviate the sebderm completely.
We’ll see. I have an appointment with a top notch derm on 3/29.
April 29th, 2004 at 3:08 am
Well, I wanted to be put on accutane for a few months. I thought
this would get rid of the excessive oiliness which is a major
contributing factor to my sebderm. And since it is used for the
pustulor form of rosacea it might help with the breakouts. I also
wanted to discuss Elidel.
But my face is not bad at all now…..I am basically red complexion,
oily, a one or two small break outs (pimples) and sebderm spots on
nose bridge and chin.
I know many people are thinking the accutane is overkill. But, the
current prescriptions I use (Klaron, Retin-A Micro .1%, and anti-
fungal) are not available overseas in Asia. And I may be moving
permanently to South East Asia. So, I have the scenario of not being
able to get refills of my meds and then my skin getting much worse.
At least the accutane may provide some long lasting benefit. My skin
problem will be more managable and I could control it on more basic
meds.
By the way, I am not surprised that the derms did not prescribe
singulair to you. I think most derms become very rote in their
prescribing habits and tend to lack vision in prescribing
something "off-label" that could provide some relief.
Did you ever have an asthma problem before? If so, maybe you could
see your primary care physician and say you are having a asthma
reoccurance and ask for the singulair? Or that you feel like you are
having an asthma attack.
I had a weird asthma like problem happen twice in my life. Once from
coming back from India and then the following spring after being in
the US for a year. I think both were related to dust.
April 29th, 2004 at 12:58 pm
Hi Tina,
I think you should get the Elidel and even ask for Protopic as well–in my
opinion, these two are both very good for the mild flares–can’t hurt to
take these with you if you go overseas especially if you have insurance that
will pay for it. From what you describe of your regimen I don’t see any
anti-inflammatories so i would suggest trying some (I use Desowen practicaly
daily but also rotate in the Elidel and Protopic and occasionaly salycic
acid if my skin gets too oily) I use a neutrogena product that is .55%
salicycic acid and completley dries up any oiliness and helps with the
redness of seb derm as it is also a mild anti-inflammatory. It comes in a
pretty small tube and I think it is called Oil Control gel or Shine control
gel–can’t remeber exaclty but it costs about $6 for a tube and a little bit
of this stuff goes a long way–I think it is there only acne product that
comes in the .55% strength–
Personally, I am holding off until the bitter end to try Accutane–many
reasons for this–afraid of losing my hair, afraid of even drier skin,
afraid that it won;t work or make rosacea symptoms possibly worse. If you
don’t have the bad seb derm flares on daily or weekly basis, not sure if
accutane is the best route–explore the anti-inflammatories first, they do
really work–in the meantime, maybe something new will come along that is
better.
As far as the Singulair, I don’t have asthma at all but I do get mild
seasonal allergies, which according to the latest commercials on TV,
Singulair can be rx’ed for seasonal allergies. Amazing, all of a sudden, I
feel my allergies getting much much worse–time to go to the family doc and
"Hey Doc, I am constantly sneezing, eyes watering, blah blah blah–how about
Singulair, I have heard that it is a really safe drug and is good for
seasonal allergies?"
I’ll let you all know.
RJ