Recent Derm Visits
Hi,
A couple of weeks ago I saw my regular derm. Nothing seemed to be
working for me anymore, Nizoral, H & S, Klaron, etc. She prescribed
Loprox lotion and shampoo. In the last couple of days it’s starting
to reduce the redness and oiliness pretty well. About the same time I
started taking Threelac, so maybe that has something to do with it,
but I suspect it’s mostly the Loprox. I just hope it lasts . . .
Today I went to see a derm I used to see a few years ago. I told her
about my success with Vitamin B5. She was interested in learning more
about it, so I gave her the website info. I also told her about this
group and she said she would recommend it to some of her patients
with seb derm. Her advice for when nothing is working is to take a
course of either oral diflucan or sporanox. I know a couple of people
in this group have tried these without much benefit. Has anyone had
good results from these? I’ve also heard that sporanox is pretty
dangerous. She said the risks were quite low, so who knows. I also
talked to her about low dose accutane. She said I would probably be a
good candidate for it because oiliness and redness are my main
complaints. She suggested taking 10 or 20 mgs a day for a week, then
not taking it for three weeks, then taking it again for a week, and
so on. I told her that other people had recommended 10 mgs every
three days. She said that someone my size (210 lbs) would hardly
notice 10mgs every three days. She agreed that it might be worth
experimenting with different schedules.
Anyway, that’s the latest from here. If you have any thoughts on
these issues, please let me know.
Thanks,
Tim
August 28th, 2005 at 11:36 am
Hi there-
I tried Loprox shampoo once, and it didn’t seem to help me. In fact it made
my scalp burn but it was pretty aggravated to begin with. We are all so
different! I also tried low dose accutane, i have heard of people having
good success with it. Unfortunately my derm had me on too high a dose (40
mgs) he said anything less would be too low. Which was more than I could
handle and think made my seb derm and rosacea worse. Still trying to recover
from that six months later. So my advice would be to err on the side of
caution, you can always up the dosage!
I am also thinking about Threelac but am not sure where to get it.. can
someone please point me in the right direction?
Have a great weekend,
Amanda in Atlanta
August 28th, 2005 at 11:43 pm
I would agree Tim–look at Dr. Nase’s advice on accutane–I beleive he
recommends either 5 or 10 mgs every other day, regardless of your size.
Given that if it works you may be on it for years, you don’t want to hit the
maximum intake amount quickly, it needs to work slowly over
time–rosacea/seb derm treatment with accutane is much different than trying
to treat cystic acne. And since when are you taking a derm’s advice? I
think you know more than they do.
Also, regarding oral anti-fungals, I tried diflucan a few years ago–didn’t
do anything–these drugs are also potentially very dangerous and are not a
long term solution anyway because as soon as you stop taking them, the
fungus comes back anyway–not even worth messing with these in my opinion.
Aside from the potential problems it can wreak on your liver long term, it
is possible to have sudden death with oral anitfungals (meaning one dose can
kill you).
Have you tried the Ovace Gel and Protopic combo yet? The Ovace gel (not
cleanser) provides rather gentle removal of the fungus, bacteria, and
sebum/dead skin buildup on the skin. The Protopic used underneath the Ovace
reduces the redness and inflammation. This combo has been really working
well for me for about 10 months now. I think this combo has somehow changed
my inflammation characteristics in the sense that now my flares are mild
redness and some flaking on a bad day, total clearance on a good day.
Before I started this regimen, I would get the really raw, deep red oozing
and crusting for months at a time all through my eyebrows, around nose and
most of my forehead–I have not had flare like that for 10 months. My skin
is no longer has that really tight feeling either.
RJ
August 29th, 2005 at 5:41 pm
10 mg every day for one week, then a break for three weeks, then one
week, then a break, sounds interesting.
good luck