Plain Old Zinc Cream (Zinc Oxide 32% w/w) - My Rosacea Denial Story

tragui · 15th November 2009, 01:14 PM

Hi I'm new here. Just a small background:

I recently found out that I have been struggling with rosacea and seborrheic dermatitis in tandem for about 8 or 9 years. It has always been around and on my nose. When not treated, it is just a violent mass of crusty skin and pustules. Hot, red (like rudolf), itchy, infected and stinging. Very humiliating.

For the last 5 or so years I started using an old tube of celestone that was lying around my house (someone else's prescription). It always cleared it up really well for a few days at a time, but the rebound effect was a shocker.

I never knew what my condition was till about two months ago when I finally stopped denying I had a problem. I was sick of the celestone and I'd heard a lot of bad things about it. I went to two doctors, one said I had seborrheic dermatitis but it maybe rosacea and told me to use Nizoral 1%, the other said I had rosacea but it maybe seb derm and prescribed doxycycline tablets.

Of course, i jumped online and did my own reading. Read about lots of things. I heard mixed reports about nizoral, but it worked really well for me for clearing up the crusting skin. but my nose was still red and hot with lots of pustules, and would dry out heaps.

IT took me a few weeks to find a moisturiser that didn't sting and cause a flare up. Finally i came across QV Repair cream. Wonderful stuff when used in tiny amounts. Moisturised after the nizoral without any stinging or flareups. I apply nizoral as a lotion, leave for 10 minutes, rinse off, allow to dry completely, then apply a tiny amount of QV cream.

IT took another week or two for me to decide to pick up the Doxy tablets from the pharmacy. That same morning i had been reading about the benefits of zinc for rosacea treatment, so i picked up a 100g bottle of plain old zinc cream. The stuff your mum used to put on your bum for nappy rash.

Well. Three days later and I feel on top of the world. I have taken the doxy each day for the last three days. I doubt that has had time to kick in yet, so I have to attribute my almost completely clear normal skin-tone nose to the good old zinc cream. I just lather it on whenever I can, and leave it for as long as i can. Hours at a time. I rinse it off with nizoral then apply a tiny amount of QV. It has turned my nose from a volcanic mass of pustules and oil flows into almost-clear healthy looking skin.

I am very happy to have found something simple and so effective at alleviating and clearing up my bright red rudolph nose. No stinging hotness, no big crusty patches of skin, not even any pustules. Just a few light red blemishes where the worst patches were, and some occasional itches.

I say, try the old Zinc Cream!!

Melissa W · 15th November 2009, 01:17 PM

Hi and welcome to the RF

Thanks for sharing your story. Zinc seems helpful and calming for others here as well and it's always good to hear what works for others.

Best wishes for continued success!
Melissa

banshee · 16th November 2009, 08:37 PM

That's wonderful tragui-thanks for sharing

I have struggled with balancing the Seb derm and Rosacea for years. What helps one seems to flare up the other. So I always have to choose b/w dehydrated, slightly irritated skin to address the SD, or donut glaze crusts and flakes with calm flushing. Not very appealing or easy to apply makeup on.

So when you say you use 1% Nizoral, do you mean the shampoo? But you merely apply it like a lotion and leave it on your skin?

Thanks-
Kristen

tragui · 20th November 2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banshee

So when you say you use 1% Nizoral, do you mean the shampoo? But you merely apply it like a lotion and leave it on your skin?

Yeah I use the shampoo as a lotion, spread it on liberally, leave it for 5 to 10 minutes and rinse off. Pat dry. It seems I can use it once every couple of days now to keep the SD at bay. Or just whenever the orange crusty skin starts to reappear.

As a general update:

I've found it most important to let my skin dry completely after using nizoral, and only then putting on either the QV or zinc. Dampness seems to cause the rosacea to flare. And that's why only a tiny amount of QV is necessary, just enough to thinly cover the area.

With the zinc, I've found it good to put a generous layer on at night and let it soak in. I'll use it during the day whenever i feel my skin getting hot and itchy, leave it on for 10 minutes or so, then gently wipe off with a tissue. There's always a little residue because plain zinc cream is so thick. but i don't mind a few little white flecks if it means a calm and almost normal looking skin tone. I use the zinc based on the flareup, if nothing is happening, I can go a couple of days without it, if its flaring, i might apply and wipe off as above 3 times in a day.

With all this treatment, I've just been going on instinct and observation.

The doxy tablets are just starting to reduce the amount of pustules, but i think the zinc and nizoral have helped with that too by minimising the buildup of oil and crusty skin.

Will keep this post updated as to progress over the coming weeks and months. Still early days.

banshee · 14th December 2009, 08:55 AM

Forgive me tragui...I never thanked you for your reply

I've found SD shampoos to be extremely drying, and they actually wind up flaring my SD as a result.

Best solution I've found, is to take Linda Sy's Oatmeal cleanser (which thankfully is about to go on sale again at rosaceacare), and compounding pyrithione zinc (or ketoconazole) into it. I think the absence of the SLS among other things, makes it more tolerable for me.

I'm going to try a zinc cream at night too. I've noticed falling asleep in my mineral makeup helps me get a more restful sleep.

cheers-
Kristen