Seborrheic Dermatitis

Update from Holland.

For a couple of months now I haven’t used any moisturizer or cream on
my face, as a new dermatologist advised me. She and her supervisor
thought I don’t have rosacea, since there are hardly any broken veins
visible. The redness, blushing and burning are due to irritation from
so many (different) crèmes she thinks. She strongly advised me to
stop using anything for a while and see how my skin recovers. She
warned me that my skin might ´protest´, since I’ve used creams for so
long. It should take months before the skin creates its own
protective layer etc etc. People use moisturizers far too often in
her opinion and the problems of lots of her patients derived from
this usage of creams, in her opinion. So, I´ve been flabbergasted for
a week and have tried it for more than two months now (since march
the 5th). Soon the burning, that drove me mad for such a long time

stopped. But my skin looked so dry (of course). I don´t know if this
is the right regimen honestly. My skin looks ok one day, horrible the
other. I still flush, but not as persistent, maybe because the skin
can ´breathe´ and the heat can get out. I still have papules and I´ve
got still seborrhoea (seb derm) around my mouth and at my cheeks. It
seems to get more dry obviously now.. Itry not to wash my face every
day, so it can heal more, doesn’t get more dry every day. I also get
lots of irritation from dry weather outside or smoke. I don´t feel
that this is the ultimate solution, since I feel imprisoned like
this. I see instant changes in my skin all day, depending on food,
heat, dryness, emotions etc. One moment it can look red, spotty,
ugly, the other moment pretty ok (despite from the yellow flakiness
around my mouth: got all sorts of crèmes (!) for it, just for that
specific skin area, but they are all too harsh and burn). But the
burning IS gone, I have to admit that. Only in a flare it’s back.
Are there people on the board that tried to use nothing at all as
well? Who also just can’t accept anything on there face?
I often get scared that this might be my future: hiding in my house
in the afternoon for the dryness outside, avoiding the places I like
to come most. I hated the burning and sensible irritation from the
moisturizers, but now I can’t protect my skin to anything anymore I
feel.

Well, I will go on with this regime for a bit longer, I will keep you
in formed if the skin might recover more by itself. It´s all about
patience the doc´s say. I just wonder if this IS a good regime for
rosacea (I know I have rosacea, other derms told me as well and they
all seem to think something else: these two also mentioned my (too)
young age…and we all know..
It´s hard to keep my self-esteem, still I can’t get used to this way
of life and these feelings of anxiety and stress. I look awful
sometimes, but hope sooo bad that everything will normalize some day
and I can go to France with a friend, enjoy life despite the weather
conditions, drink and eat whatever I like. It´s a hard struggle,
most of all because there are so many different advisers around us.
And we all want the same..
Any people on the board that know if seb derm, that came probably
after the long course of doxycycline I took, will go away by itself
if you leave it untreated and don´t take antibiotics anymore? Or
people who can advice a mild treatment??

And how many people with dry skin have stopped using moisturizers?
Thanks,
Natalja

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 13th, 2005 at 5:47 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.