First off, I would like to say I am suffering from eczema on my scalp, my back, my arms, and my legs. I will create another post to cover my experiences at a later date.

This current post is about my Perioral Dermatitis. So… About three weeks ago I began developing a couple of tiny, itchy, skin-coloured bumps on the left side of my face beside my nose. I am unsure how it all started but I do know that shortly before the bumps appeared, I had switched to a Neutrogena facial moisturizer but it was not the same one I’ve used previously – it was for combination skin, whereas I’ve always used the sensitive skin type. Needless to say, I’ve stopped using that new moisturizer and reverted back to my old one. I only switched for the short time due to stock unavailability. Could it have been the moisturizer or perhaps from topical steroid cream usage for my eczema? Hmm….

At first I thought it was just a mild case of eczema like on the rest of my body, so I went ahead and applied my liquid eczema medication Ratio-Topisalic Acid. It didn’t seem to do anything and the bumps were still there, but I noticed there were a couple of more bumps that have appeared on the other side of my face beside my nose.

So then I thought maybe one of my stronger ointments might do the trick, so I went ahead and applied Taro-Clobetasol ointment on my face. It didn’t seem to be doing anything for the first couple of days of application, so I continued applying it thinking that it may take a bit longer to have an effect and start working. Negative.

I then decided to switch to another eczema cream Elocom. The bumps kind of went down but then I started noticing that the tiny bumps were multiplying after the second application day and became pink/red bumps instead of skin-coloured. There were one or two white-heads that appeared on my nose as well. DOUBLE NEGATIVE!!!

I began to panic and stress out at this point. I began to feel regret. Why did I put all those potent creams and ointments on my face? That’s when I figured it will not be a quick fix after all and it’s just going to get worse, so I made a call to my dermatologist but couldn’t get in to see her for another week.

So in the mean time I went to a walk-in clinic to get some form of relief or an opinion on what it could be. The doctor thought it could either be Folliculitis or Rosacea, but he was leaning more towards Folliculitis due to the appearance and tiny white-heads. He prescribed me on an oral antibiotic, Novo-Doxylin (Doxycycline), to take twice a day for 30 days and then hopefully by then I can be prescribed an alternative by my dermatologist. I was also prescribed Metrogel to apply to the affected areas on my face, in case it was Rosacea. He advised that the good thing with the two prescriptions is that it can be used for the two skin conditions.

I found that the Metrogel dried out my face and when the medication dried, it left a shiny glue-like film on my face which began to peel.
You know when you were younger and applied white glue to your hands, waited for it to dry, and then peel it off? Well if you know what I’m talking about there, the similar thing happened with Metrogel. I didn’t like it but I gave it a shot for one day but I wanted a second opinion since I didn’t notice any immediate changes (I am impatient, I know – I was on panic mode!).

Luckily my family doctor was working that day when I called his office. He thought it looked like a skin infection and prescribed an oral antibiotic, Apo-Cephalex, and a topical Fucidin cream. He advised me to disregard the other physician’s recommendations. I felt that I trusted my family physician more then the walk-in clinic physician, so I took his advice and started to take the antibiotic and apply the cream.

The next day, my face didn’t seem to change much, except some of the tiny bumps turned into white-heads again. Which, for me, seemed to be bad enough and to the point where I almost cried because it wasn’t getting better! So I made a desperate call to my dermatologist’s office that morning to see if there were any cancellations and if I could be booked in immediately.

Luckily there was a cancellation and I was able to get booked in to see my dermatologist. She advised me to stop taking the Apo-Cephalex and continue taking the Novo-Doxylin until the pills are finished. She also told me to stop putting any creams or ointments on my face, with the exception of my daily moisturizer and mineral powder makeup to cover the bumps while I’m at work. Looks like my family physician was wrong? Or perhaps just a different perception of my skin condition…

The facial moisturizer I use is by Neutrogena and it is called Oil-Free Moisturizer (Sensitive Skin). There are different types of Neutrogena moisturizers similar to the one I use, but I feel the sensitive skin works the best on my skin. It is a water-based moisturizer that is oil-free, alcohol-free, fragrance-free, and is hypoallergenic. I have tried a few facial moisturizers in the past but it has either left my face dry or itchy, until I found this one 🙂 It goes for about $12.99-$14.99 where I live in Canada; however, I can’t seem to find this specific sensitive skin bottle here anymore. So when I’m in the USA I stock up on a few bottles to take back; they range about $8.99-$10.99 and can be found at Walmart/Target/Walgreens/CVS stores.

I was also told that it will take approximately three weeks on antibiotics before I start seeing results with my perioral dermatitis 😦 I guess I will have to suffer from ugliness until the day it clears up…

I can’t stress enough on how much I regret applying those topical steroid creams/ointments on my face, which I believe have made my face worse. I’ve done research online after the flare up and it has been advised not to do any topical steroid or cortisone creams/ointments because it’ll make it worse. It may clear up for a short term but will come back with a vengeance! Take my situation as a prime example. I highly recommend going to your dermatologist over a physician – they see these skin problems all the time and it’s their specialty. The physician may prescribe you antibiotics but the cream they prescribe you can actually do more harm.

Throughout this whole skin dilemma, I also feel very unattractive and hate it when I have to go out in public and to work!! Let’s face it, nobody likes going to work but this skin dilemma has turned me into a huge unattractive hermit. Lucky for me, I have the most supportive and amazing boyfriend 🙂 he has been very understanding of my feelings and always assures me that I am still beautiful and that this skin dilemma is just a short phase that will get better and go away. It’s nice to have that loving support when you are down in the dumps and feeling unattractive and disgusting. It’s hard to smile through it and act like it doesn’t bother me, but it does… Such as life!

I’ve posted pictures to the Gallery section with my progress. Also, I will blog weekly with an update on my PD.  Stay tuned 🙂

Feel free to ask any questions or just share your PD stories – I would love to hear from you all!!! The more support, the better hehe.

Xo!