Kerotosis Pilarus + acne OR roceacea... Please help: pics

[evbecks]

Hi everyone, my name is Evan and I am currently 18 years old. For the past few years i have been battling a Constant red face, with blushing, etc.. I have always thought that it was roseacea, although my dermotoligist has diagnosed me w/ kerotosis pilarious. Initially i was on Urea cream for a while. Then Differen cream. In addition, more recently I went back because i started getting acne (and more flushed face constantly :()... He gave me Rosaderm Cleanser, Glyndamycin, and cetaphil cleanser/lotion to use.. BOY what a bunch of topical ointments! JEEZ....

anyways after about 3weeks-month on that, my face was getting EXTREMELY dry.. So i went BACK again, and I was put on monocylin and started using "acne.org" 2.5% benzoyl peroxide regimen.... The acne isn't getting better really, and my face is always red... Im losing confidence and hope...

I went to the derm last weekend AGAIN! and he said to continue with the bp and cetaphil lotion, but put me on Sulfameth.... I suppose i will give this another month or two before calling it quits, but I just became aware that BP makes rosacea worse....

I JUST want my face to be fixed already ! darnit :(


http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/8787/33ro6.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8660/1wx9.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7294/2vl1.jpg
http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/7804/1059yn5.jpg
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7474/1053yo5.jpg

[moomy]

Hi there,
looks like it could be rosacea, altough I don't know much about the other condition.
The flushing sounds familiar though.
Are you able to get a second opinion from another doctor??? Some medications are too harsh for rosacea skin so best to try and be sure.

Don't loose hope, there is always hope. If it is rosacea people are having great results with red light therapy, IPL, etc. I even find metrogel helps.

best wishes
moomy

[phlika29]

I would defintely be careful with products such as differin cream and some bp as these could aggrevate any rosacea or make it more likely.

If I were you I would stop the topical products for now. How long have you been on the antibiotics? These may take a while to kick in but should help with both rosacea and acne. If they aren't working then I would ask for a different type.

Do you live in the UK, if so it might be worth asking to be reffered to Dr Chu at Hammersmith as he is abit of an expert in acne (and rosacea).

Sarah

[claudia]

Hi Evan and welcome!

The reason your doc keeps trying to treat you with benzoil peroxide is because of your age. Same thing happened to me many eons ago (...and here I thought the docs were getting the hang of things by now....geez)

You'd be better off paying attention to your gut feelings about what's really happening with your skin. I too suffer from a condition that includes rosacea + cystic acne. It looks like what you've got happening!

You've got the dilated blood vessels + redness around lesions + deeper pustules --- nasty stuff. Anyway, to get everything calmed down you need to stop ALL acne related products...that means benzoil peroxide or any other harsh topicals. If it makes your skin red stop using it (my motto).

Then you need to get your doc to prescribe only GENTLE products. There's some differing opinions on what these products are because some of us rosaceans get red using anything but you've got to experiment a little bit.

Personally I totally like Metrogel 1%. It's an antibacterial topical get that also has an anti-redness ingredient. You also will benefit from finding a systemic antibiotic that works for you. It sounds like you might be on some kind of sulfa drug right now so keep using it. It can take several months to get everything calmed down. I use Bactrim and LOVE it...it immediately cleared up the big lesions.

Only use VERY GENTLE cleaning products. cetaphil cleanser/lotion is a good one...although it might be too greasy if you've also got a little acne mixed in with the rosacea. I like Olay foaming cleanser for sensitive skin...cleans well but doesn't strip the skin.

Also you need to pay attention to food triggers. These can affect inflammation internally which then makes your blood vessels dilate and poof there's more p&p's (pustules and papules). This is very hard at 18 but try to eat as "natural" as possible...i.e. no junk food, no sugary foods, no spicy foods, no alcohol, no white flour products (cakes, cookies, etc.). Your doc will say "Oh food doesn't cause acne" but that's because he/she is still thinking in terms of you being so young and you having only acne. But even if it were just acne there's tons of studies showing how diet can make acne worse (...the iodine in milk products being a big problem).

Key thing is it doesn't hurt to eat healthy nor does it hurt to treat your skin more gently! You'll still be able to take care of the problem with the right products.

Tell us how it goes. And keep us updated with pics. Appreciate you sharing them with us since it helps us all to know we're not alone in this yucky disease.

Claudia

[Artist]

Is the area around your mouth peri-oral dermatitis? I get that if I use creams, topicals, or soaps on my skin around the mouth. I pretty much just have to wash with something very gentle and leave it alone. I also switched to a non-flouride, non SLS, non mint toothpaste and it helped. I use Dr. Burt's toothpaste in the orange tube. "Orange Cream" or something like that.

So, maybe it's a combo of rosacea and peri-oral dermatitis? You may want to ask your derm about that possibility.

Cheers!

Artist

Thank you aLL very much for the support and enthusiasm...

Now i have some additional questions:

well after research, you guys are right BP does make your face more red, although I never apply bp to my cheeks.. JUST over the acne.. and its only 2.5%, I feel like the acne is getting better and better by day, and if i stop.. its going to get worse... (maybe if i apply less? once a day instead of twice?) i dont want to break out!!


in addition, my diet is verry healthy, consists of very low fat foods, grilled chicken, pasta, NO cookies/soda, lots of protein (started working out 2 months ago)....

Ill look into the toothpaste, the stuff i am using is Cavity Flouride in it!! ill get off that asap! thanks guys/girls

[claudia]

I can totally understand your hesitancy to stop using BP because your lesions will get worse. I used BP for over 20 years and it worked wonders with what I thought was acne. Whenever I stopped I got a face full of lesions. In my late 40's it kept working but it had thinned out my skin so much that it really irritated everything and then I got lots of burst blood vessels in those areas and so on. This was when I went to a rosacea specialist who explained to me that there are more effective ways to treat rosacea p&p's without worsening the rosacea. I really had no choice because by that time my skin was peeling terribly, oozing and red due to using BP...eventho I was hardly using it at all. It took every ounce of faith I had to switch to Metrogel + a systemic antibiotic. But it worked. The systemic antibiotic is taken at a high dose to start and then less and less until it's only working as an anti-inflammatory. I'll be using the metrogel for the rest of my life. You may just have acne but the redness and inflammation suggest the lesions are associated with rosacea. You can probably continue using BP for several more years without too much problem. But if you get into your 30's and you're still having to use it then you may want to switch gears to something more gentle or you'll hurt your skin! And if the "acne" is really rosacea then the BP could aggrevate things in the long run.

[Guest05]

Hey,

That honestly doesn't look like rosacea to me. I'm no dermatologist, but that looks a lot like Keratosis Pilaris to me and maybe even some contact dermatitis. The acne is probably completely separate from the KP since you don't have any acne directly on the lesions. Is your cheek area very dry and everything else oily? If so then it's probably Keratosis Pilaris. Just my opinion

[miggymiester]

I get those exact little pustules, or whatever they are. not exactly sure. I'm not too familiar with KP, but is that what they're a symptom of ?? Anyone ?? It's comforting to see someone else with skin like mine !

[justakid]

To me, looks like KPRF with some acne near your chin. I am 18 also and have had KPRF for a while. Head over the the KP forums and repost and get more opinions.