Steroid Rosacea?

[Meshen]

Hi all, nice to finally make a post... after a lot of research and lurking on forums like this I became convinced over the past 6 months that I had steroid rosacea. Only now it seems to be on the mend am I questioning that, I'd just like everyone's thoughts on my story / pic:

When I was around 16 I developed some dry, eczema-like redness on my cheeks. I would not consider it to have been seb derm, it definitely seemed more eczema-like. But anyway, a well-meaning but foolish doctor prescribed me with Cutivate for it. I used it a fair amount, I can't remember exactly how much, but I did so without any extreme rebound. I just needed to use it to keep it under control. I probably used it once or twice a week. I generally never went more than a week without it. In my early 20s (I'm 24 now) it began to be the case that I would get some red pustules and papules if I slept on my face, primarily around the eyes. I ended up using the steroid cream to control this too. Avoiding sleeping on your face is quite hard when you're so used to it, so usage of the cutivate became more regular than previously.

The real battle began then in my second year of Uni, aged around 22. I think that, without really noticing, I was at this point using the steroid cream on most of my face a few times a week. After what seemed like a decent period for my skin I suddenly woke up to the most beetroot red face I'd ever seen. It was awful, I hid in my room for two days while I calmed it down with, you guessed it, the steroid cream. From that point until a few weeks ago I flushed intensely when embarrassed (having never even blushed previously), hot or exercising and if I tried to go more than a week without the steroid cream, this would happen:



After a lot of research I went well-armed to the doctor to tell her I had steroid rosacea and needed a course of antibiotics to clear it up. She obliged, giving me a two month course of lymecycline in exchange for my agreement to go teetotal on the steroid cream. It was tough at first, and I had to use it a little because it was just too awful at points, but at this point I've now been completely without steroid creams for approximately a full month, without a flare up during this time. I have had to battle a little with excess redness over this time but at this point I seem to be winning. My face looks pretty much completely normal and I now am able to sleep on my face without the p&p appearing. I do still flush quite badly during exercise and if I'm embarrassed but I'm hoping this will lessen as the blood vessels repair. When it does seem to threaten to flare up or is stinging (yet doesn't look red) I'm able to calm it down and seemingly keep it at bay with Oily Cream (Hydrous Ointment).

The only thing is that while to me this seems like classic steroid rosacea I've seen a lot of people comment lately with a very very similar story only to be told they have seb derm. I personally believe that while I have an underlying dry skin condition, it's not seb derm and the only thing that it did was cause me to use the steroid cream that lead to the rosacea. Either way, whether you agree or disagree with me on this I'd love your thoughts on what you think this is / was and how to proceed from here now that it's seemingly on the mend. Here's my face right now:



Thanks guys.

Rich

[legendsneverdie]

hey op good post. i might have a mix of seb derm / induced steroid side effect cause i used steroid on my face for a few years. right now as of april 21st 2010 my skin is not under control, but not horrible either, but not good.. any advice for me? i cant go see a doctor for perscripts and i will not touch the steroids anymore. do u think over time if my skin is suffering from a steroid rebound (been without steroids for about a month or two now) i can still recover? thanks and good luck.

[Meshen]

What were you initially using the steroid cream for and how severe was the condition when you first started compared to now?

You said you can't go to your doctor for prescriptions? Antibiotics (tetracyclines) are the only thing that have really cleared it for me and I'd recommend trying to get them, I tried going cold turkey without them and I never stood a chance due to the awful flare ups I'd get. Even if it is seb derm you have I think they help that too. Someone shout at me if I'm wrong though.

And to be honest, even if your steroids aren't causing a condition now you should try and get off them. They will only lead to complications down the line. If you really really can't try antibiotics then try a yeast free diet. Apparently yeast propogates the mites that cause seb derm (and rosacea?) and I've read a lot of success stories on this diet. Give it a google

[Meshen]

Just re-read your post by the way, didn't realise you'd been without the steroids. A month or two is an impressive length of time to have gone cold turkey, how's your condition doing now compared to before you came off them? Were the steroids keeping it under control and are you pretty sure that it's seb derm you have?

[legendsneverdie]

Just re-read your post by the way, didn't realise you'd been without the steroids. A month or two is an impressive length of time to have gone cold turkey, how's your condition doing now compared to before you came off them? Were the steroids keeping it under control and are you pretty sure that it's seb derm you have?

if u check my post in the photo section called please help. my face is getting bad on the last page ucan see how my face looks. the roids helped keep it pretty clear. pretty sure i have seb derm. funny thing is the honey treatment i use cleared it right up between my eyebrows where i never put the cream. but on my cheeks where i always put the cream the seb derm or w/e it is still is there. My condition has improved since i been off them with the honey treatment. but my skin is still inflammed, just not nearly as bright red and embarassing.

[huhh2001]

Hey Meshen. My story is almost identical to yours. I was using hydrocortisone 1% on my flares in my early 20s, am now also 24, and realized that it was hurting me so decided to stop them. I got on Oracea starting February 10, and have not noticed that much change. I still regularly get papules on my cheeks. I’ve tried cutting a lot of stuff from my diet, but I have super fast metabolism, and I quickly lose a ton of weight and look like a skeleton. I also cut the steroid cream a month ago cold turkey bc I thought it was interfering with the Oracea having its full effect.

I also have seb derm which I’m treating with raw honey. That does help the flares heal quickly, but I still continue getting the flares. They dry up, clear, and then I get some more. I want maybe 3 weeks of no papules, at least (I know that never getting again is impossible.)

[eye2eye]

My partner developed Rosacea almost overnight. It was severe. Redness, sore, even a rhino nose. Doctor said "Rosacea, incurable!" Gave her scripts for steriod cream and antibiotics.
We use homeopathy and so looked up best remedy and crushed one pill in a bottle of water. She took three sips from the bottle over 3 days, shaking the bottle each time.
Relief came after the first dose and the condition cleared completely after a week. Incurable? I beg to differ.
The hardest thing to do in Homeopathy is to find the correct remedy. It is a totally different approach but when you get it right it works like magic. We used Causticum 6c.
Go find a good homeopath. Watch out for strange ones as there are plenty of them about.

[Meshen]

Hey Meshen. My story is almost identical to yours. I was using hydrocortisone 1% on my flares in my early 20s, am now also 24, and realized that it was hurting me so decided to stop them. I got on Oracea starting February 10, and have not noticed that much change. I still regularly get papules on my cheeks. I’ve tried cutting a lot of stuff from my diet, but I have super fast metabolism, and I quickly lose a ton of weight and look like a skeleton. I also cut the steroid cream a month ago cold turkey bc I thought it was interfering with the Oracea having its full effect.

I also have seb derm which I’m treating with raw honey. That does help the flares heal quickly, but I still continue getting the flares. They dry up, clear, and then I get some more. I want maybe 3 weeks of no papules, at least (I know that never getting again is impossible.)

Don't despair, it's not impossible, I've been around 6 weeks without a single rosacea papule now, I'm 99% sure that it's solely down to the antibiotics / coming off the steroids. I also think it's so much harder to go cold turkey without antibiotics, especially with the strength of steroid cream I was using. If you can, get some tetracyclines (i'm on lymecycline). Recently got another two month script for them as I really want to nail this in one go if possible rather than come off and realise I did so too soon by getting hit with a flare up. What I really want to know if anyone can help is how to kill off the remaining slight redness I have (if possible).

[Meshen]

An update for anyone who's interested: I've been off the antibiotics for about three weeks now. First week off them I broke out in multiple zits (not papules, just spots) which cleared normally. I then had a bit of redness which subsided and all was fine for a couple of weeks until I braved exercise. Big mistake, I got a big flare up of what appeared to be seb derm (something I had thought could have maybe been underlying), red, itchy with no papules and also flaking in two dark patches on the cheeks, which were actually yellow at points.

I've managed to get this under control and my skin looks pretty much normal right now (this would never have happened with the steroid rosacea rebounds - I think the antibiotics really kicked that one to the kerb) but I'm going to be trying Auburn's famed honey treatment and see how it reacts to that as it's still a little dry in places. Hopefully it's all plain sailing from here.

[Auburn]

Hi Meshen,

Right now your skin doesn't look anything like the photo in your first post shows, right?

Are you using the oil or just the raw honey masks?