seb derm/rosacea and oral antifungal (Sporanox)
Hi everybody,
I´m still in search of a ´solution´ for my skin… Antibiotics gave
me a thick, accumulating layer of yellow, greasy skin around my mouth
and on the cheeks. Honestly: every single week I can take a cotton
path and take off a thick layer of yellow stuff. Underneath my skin
is irritated and red then and if I get rid of the sebum stuff I get
more red pustules again.. And within a short time it´s back. I
noticed that the skin on my outer cheeks (jawbone area and outside
half of my face) doesn’t have this and actually CAN handle lots of
moisturizers. Only the problem area doesn´t accept anything.
In Dr. Nase´s book he mentiones that it´s wise to get rid of this seb
derm (as I suppose it is) first, because it sensitises the skin even
more. Ketoconazolcreams etc. are too harsh. I recently tried a self
made cream by the pharmacist with only the active ingredient
(ketoconazoicum) in plain Vaseline, but it still burned horribly on
my skin, so a no-no, so to speak..
Now I´ve got Itraconazol oral tablets (Sporanox). According to the
list it has a lot of possible nasty side-effects and I wonder if
anyone of you ever tried this or another oral antifungal medicine,
like oral ketoconazol. Dit it help the seb derm in the short and the
long run? And did it effect the rosacea? The antibiotics gave me far
more seb derm, and I still have it, even after stopping the antib.
for months. Maybe I get more bacterial skinproblems while using th
antifungal?
Are there any experienced people here????
Thanks millions,
Natalja (the Netherlands)
March 2nd, 2005 at 1:56 pm
I don’t think alot of people have tried oral antifungals but I did
try Diflucan a few years ago, much agaisnt my derm’s wishes but I put
up a fight and he wrote me the rx.
I took it for a few weeks and did not notice any reduction in sebderm-
-these medicines are designed to eliminate fungus that are causing
fungal infections. Seb derm is not really a fungus infection so to
speak, but an exaggerated response by our immune system to normal
fungi living on our skin.
Oral antifungals can be very dangerous with regards to your liver,
you need to be monitored on a weekly basis by your doctor–be careful
if you decide to use it and I hope it has benefits for you. The
thing is though that you would need to take this medicine long term
to control sebderm as the fungi will eventually come back (because it
is normal for them to be living on your skin). I think long term
oral antifungal therapy would never be prescribed by an honest doctor.
You should also start taking a good high potency Probiotic supplement-
-not a cure but should help a little.
RJ
March 3rd, 2005 at 10:14 am
Hi Natalja,
You said you had the pharmacy make a vaseline/ketoconazole product, I
dont understand why you made them use pure Vaseline, as this is
incredibly sticky and I dont think very skin friendly. I think Dr
Nase recommended a light, non acnegenic base lotion or gel. You dont
want something as sticky as vaseline on your face. The pharmacies
have light, sensitive skin bases I would think. If not, maybe it
would be ok to just add the ketoconaxole to an aloe vera gel?
I dont know how bad your seb derm is. Back in 1997 I had a really bad
seb derm outbreak after taking antibiotics. I took antibiotics for
acne. And they NEVER did anything good. Antibiotics sucks in my
opinion, at least for the skin.
Back then the only thing the dermatologist (he didnt know what he was
doing in my opinion - any derm who prescribes a corticosteroid as the
main treatment for seb derm isliving in the past, or doesnt care
about his patients) could give me was a vaseline base corticosteroid,
it helped a little, but was mainly a BITCH.
Then in 1999 a new derm gave me this natural lotion that was made by
a homeopath, and it was a big improvement, but itching, sebum and
increased redness came and went.
In 2001-2002 I discovered Cutanix, and it was a better solution.
Then I did a course of ACCUTANE, and it worked very well to reduce my
acne to a minor problem. When on the course, sebum was reduced a lot,
so it calmed my seb derm down. Combined with cutanix it worked very
well.
But I wasnt all that satisfied with cutanix, because it does not
address the sebum component of seb derm, and it does not fully combat
the inflammation. 3-4 weeks ago I didnt have any more cutanix, so a
friend of mine in the states said he had scrapped the Cutanix and
used a pure 100 % aloe vera gel in stead, and it worked as well or
better.
So I bought an aloe vera gel and it has worked very well for my seb
derm as an anti inflammatory gel now for 3 weeks. I also use the
Linda Sy Acne Oil Control Gel every other evening or so, it is a
gentle pure salicylic acid gel. It helps to reduce oil and clean
pores.
So what I am saying is that aloe vera gel works better than anything
I have tried for seb derm. How it would work for seriously inflamed
seb derm Im not sure. FOR THAT I would say Accutane would be a choice.
Oh, I would scrap alcohol, I dont think it is good for seb derm. And
smoking too, for obvious reasons.
Other that that, keep an eye out for the company Tamarkin
Pharmaceutical who are working with a anti seb derm lotion of great
promise. I dont know when they will launch it and if they will be
handling out samples, I do not think so, I think it will be a
prescription lotion, even if it has very few side effects. The
company does not answer e-mail, which I find very rude. But maybe
they think genious does not answer e-mail?;)
Best wishes,
MLH, Norway