I have this skin condition also, only on the right side of my face just above my facial hair to the side of my nose below my eye and also between my eyebrows. I am 35 and haven’t suffered from acne since I was 20 years of age.
Began: Jan 2016
I have been prescribed Dakacort Ointment, which is a miconazole nitratre and hydrocortisone steroid cream…it is effective at treating the oozing and swelling of skin when it happens but is not a cure and can thin the skin so I have to use it sparingly. I also use Daktarin cream which is similar but without the Hydrocortisone(steroid) so less damging to the skin.
I have noticed that if I over-eat the condition appears really bad the next day and is even worse when I eat spicy foods…
Interestingly, the start of the condition coincides with when I moved into my new accommodation, which is poorly ventilated and mould tends to build up especially in the winter… I bought an ‘air purifier’ to tackle the mould (it has a UV light which is supposed to clear mould from the air that cycles through it) and because my room is also quite dusty… However I am not sure if it even does anything, I leave it running when i’m not at home and when I check the filter there’s no dust build up at all. It really is hard to know if it helps. In the summer I leave the window open as much as I can but we are on the ground floor so this is dangerous as I live in central London (where thievery was invented!!!).
These may or may not be related:
As well this condition I have had: 1. Very dry flaky skin (which may be why my room is so dusty) 2. Weird tasting/smelling mucus discharge in the back of my nose/mouth (not chronic it is intermittent) 3. Strange things going on with my stools/digestive system which I think might be fungus in my gut… 4. Fungal Infection on one of my toe nails… for which I am currently taking… Terbinafine
Aside from the Soolantra option I have tried a lot I feel with very little success… I will try and get my doctor to refer me to a Dermatologist or perhaps prescribe soolantra based on this forum, although GPs are very suspicious of the internet in general and especially on the NHS we have here in the UK they are reluctant to link my symptoms together the will treat each individually. I am now considering moving out of my current house as I feel it may be very hazardous to my health.
Hope this helps someone or that somone can help me,
(I’ve moved your post to this topic, I think this is a better place.)
It suprises me that you only have it on one side of the face. Would it be possible to post a photo?
About the mold, maybe you could try to keep a window open. In a healthy room, fresh air should be able to reach the room 24h/7. But a lot of bedrooms don’t have such ventilation other than opening a window. (Which can be unpleasant in the winter.) You could also try to find out whether there is some water leakage in the walls, which may be caused by poor walls near shower/water/rain drainages. (I used a pinless moisture meter to measure the degree of moisture in my bedroom floor, caused by a bad wall in the shower. A moisture meter makes it easy to detect the amount of water in walls.) A hygrometer may also be handy to measure the air moisture in the room.
But at the same time, I think it’s also important to keep the skin hydrated. Skin hydration Dry flaky skin could make the skin more sensitive to microorganisms and bad substances in the air. Although in your case, it is probably beter not to use humidifers, because of the mold problem, but hydrating the skin may help, although I’m not sure if hydrating the skin may interact negatively with fungi on the skin.
I would definately advise to give Soolantra a try, most people here that tried it, have success, ranging from good to very good. But it may also cause a breakout, which is probably temporary while it’s used.
Also, stopping with topical steroids may trigger a breakout, or in some cases a long term breakout, called TSW. So if you stop with it, then do so by lowering the dose slowely.
You may also try Sudocrem: Sudocrem saved me!
People that tried it seem to have success with it, but not much people tried it.
I feel really emotional to have found this website.
Ive been suffering with this for over 2 years now. I get an itchy area of red with a central white lump which then proceedes to leak fluid and crust over with an orange scab. They have become more frequent recently and now I get at least 1 a week. They tend to come in clusters/flares. I currently have 3, one the size of a 5p coin. They often come up at night and the feeling of them wakes me, only to reach up and find that horrible feeling of a crusty lump we all know too well!
Ive been to see lots of dermatologists, including a private one, had many many swabs taken (all negative for bact and viral, except one positive for staph) and tried a number of different oral (doxy, fluclox, amoxicillin) and topical antibiotics(fusidic acid and another forgotten the name of). I was even given surgical scrub to use on my face for a month. None have worked and the dermatologists all have no idea, suggesting ‘recurrent impetigo’
Ive tried taking an antihistamine, cutting out gluten, cutting out diary, changing makeup, shampoo, you name it,
Ive never been able to find a picture of anything similar until I have seen the ones on here. I cried when I found them, it sound rediculous but reading the comments and seeing how it affects you all echos exactly how Ive been feeling. Every one says ‘they’re fine’ ‘you can barely notice them’ but its amazing how it can affect your day, your thoughts, your life.
Im going to ring my GP in the morning and beg for Soolantra.
I felt that same emotion when finding out, after about 20 years of weekly suffering, that a few rare others had what I had. You can thank the internet for that. You absolutely must try Soolantra. It took me maybe two weeks for my skin to adjust but now I’ve used it for a year and a half and it has given me my life back. The tube is expensive, but I still have a lot left after just 1.5 years, so it lasts a while. Good luck to finding help and we are all here for you. Welcome to the crusty family!
I went back to see the dermatologist today with the fresh lesion I woke up with, talked through all the demodex theories on here and have been prescribed:
topical metronidazole (Rozex 0.75% gel),
topical Ivermectin (soolantra)
and 3 month course of doxy.
When taking the prescription to the hospital pharmacy they told me they ‘need to Investigate the soolantra before they can give it to me’, Im guessing because its so expensive? Just hoping they will say yes, but I have to wait two days to hear from them. For now I have the other two.
Ive not seen anyone else mention topical metronidazole, only oral. Has anyone tried this?
I don’t understand why they give you three products of which one you already tried before, especially because it would be interesting to see what Soolantra could do by itself alone.
It also sounds strange that when a dermatologist prescribes something, the pharmacist is going investigate it.
If you get Soolantra, you may want to try it slowly, because it may cause a bad breakout: Bad first reaction
My experience was this- I did all the research and told my doctor I wanted Soolantra. She didn’t want to give it to me. (After a few years in college, they don’t like a patient telling them what meds they need). so I had to go to a second doctor to get it prescribed. It’s expensive, but when I looked on the website it had a coupon so that the first tube only cost me $50 or something like that. Research it and see if that’s still available.
In my opinion, the doc is overprescribing you. The doxy might help, but in three months its effects will wear off. I’d skip that. They are still treating this as recurrent impetigo, which it is not. For literally decades, doctors kept telling me I had impetigo and giving me all type of horrible antibiotics. As soon as the antibiotics are done, the crust comes back immediately.
I’d stick with just the soolantra. Give yourself 2 weeks to get used to it and a full month to see if it worked for you.
And again, good luck.
Literally managed to get my hands on Soolantra yesterday. After a month since it was prescribed, to-ing and fro-ing between the hospital pharamacy, dermatologist and my GP, FINALLY I got the all clear for a green prescription for it!!
So, today is only day two, & I happen to just be coming to the end of a particularly nasty outbreak of 6 lesions.
Fingers crossed! (really really need this to work) and will keep you updated.
You may want to use it steadily/ built it up slowly, people often get an initial break out, and sometimes a large breakout.
(Also note that if Soolantra doesn’t work, there are other things that may work. But Soolantra is best to start with.)
Hi everyone, I am so glad I found this page so I wanted to tell my story as it seems to differ slightly from the ones I’ve read - hopefully something is helpful!
I first noticed a bump on my chin about a year ago - it started like any other small spot, but within a few hours had filled to be a very large protrusion on my chin that we are all so familiar with. Initially, it wasn’t too dissimilar to skin issues I have regularly - my normal skin is okay and I’ve never had acne, but I do tend to get weeping pores (always clear, never itchy, nothing like this). It burst, and not knowing what it was, I kept touching it and it spread all over my chin to form a really bad outbreak with lots of lesions all over my chin and up near the sides of my mouth. I was really scared, and went to the doctor who didn’t have a clue. She took a swab and it came back negative. In the mean time, I went to town with tea tree oil, apple cider vinegar, and a really intense herbal cream that I found on another thread. It went away after about 4-5 horrible days.
I thought it was a one time thing, until yesterday when another started to form in exactly the same place on my chin. This time, I knew what to expect, and immediately started treating it, being very careful about where I touched my face and liberally applying everything I could. It oozed all day of course, but this time I also used sudocream and witch hazel as well as tea tree, and started drinking diluted apple cider vinegar that I saw on a Rosacea thread. This combination has drastically reduced the outbreak over night. They scabbed over more quickly than last time, and the itching is much less today. Another thing that really helped was a bottle of liquid plaster, which I pasted over the smaller areas (not disturbing the scabs). It basically forms a tough outer skin and is invisible (great for being in public), and seems to have stopped it spreading/helped them dry out. I was really worried at night because last time I would wake up touching my face because of the itching, and this stopped that from happening completely. I haven’t tried it on a really bad ooze, but on the smaller ones it seems to have contained them.
After months of not washing my face with anything but water, three days ago I started with a new skin care regime and I think it’s too much of a coincidence that this happened now. From reading these threads, it might have changed something for the demodex which might have caused this flare up? I’m going to my doctor soon and will ask them to prescribe Soolantra. If they don’t, in the UK it is available online.
I know this is a very long post, but thank you so much for this website! So nice to not feel alone with this.
Hi guys. Checking in after quite a while. Just to let you all know that rosiver (soolantra) is still working for me. I’d strongly recommend for any sufferers. I reduced usage to 3 times a week without much difference although I did get a slight seb dermatitis flare up on a small spot on my nose. I went back to daily usage and the seb derm has settled down again. Occasionally i get small p&ps but very minor. I still have some redness but don’t worry too much about that. The tube off rosiver seems to last a long time so although there’s an initial expense it does seem good value long term. Daniella and Geo, i know how upsetting and scary this can be. Stick with the soolantra for a good 3 months before deciding whether it works. And maybe use without anything else. I tried combinations of things and soolantra was more effective on it’s own. Now I wash my face and head very well with soap and got water twice a day. In the morning I apply Cerave moisturizing lotion and in the evening the rosiver. Please let us know how things go. You’re not alone.
My experience is the same. I use the cream every other day, and I’m doing very well. I just got my second tube, which cost $400. The initial tube lasted me about a year and a half, using it every other day and sometimes every day (basically, it boils down to $20 a month). I apply between eyebrows and the creases down the side of my nose. That’s all it takes. Then coconut oil as moisturizer, and I live my life like a normal human. Yay for me.
My experience is that I have to watch out with anything aggressive to the skin. If the tea tree oil has a strong concentration, be careful with it. (I got a horrible lession when trying a strong tea tree oil product, a few years ago.)
My current regimen also consist of washing my face twice a day with just water, followed by applying Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream (the base ingredient of Soolantra, but not the active ingredient). I don’t need Soolantra neither Sudocream anymore, and it keeps my face stable.
What did your new skin care regimen that possibly caused problems, consist of?
Also note that whether demodex plays a role, is still unknown, even though Soolantra targets against demodex.
@Col and @misfit108, good to hear that you guys are still doing fine. Although I do wonder whether you still need Soolantra to stay clean. In my case, after having used Soolantra followed by a few days of Sudocream, I don’t need them anymore with my current regimen (just water and Cetaphil).
When you say you wash your face twice a day with just water… this means, literally, just water or you wash it with some kind of soap? I would love to break away from Soolantra like you, so I might try a stint with just Cetaphil and see how it goes. I like Cerave and that helped improve hydration, but I was still getting the nastiness.
Yes, I wash my face only with tap water, without soap. And than Cetaphil to moisturize and protect. Cetaphil is more greasy than Cerave, has no smell compared to Cerave, and maybe last longer on the skin. (Cerave PM is also supposed to have no smell, but somehow, mine gave an unpleasant chemical acidic smell.) Cerave feels like it’s getting in the the skin, whereas Cetaphil feels like a bit of a greasy protected layer. The greasiness is cosmetically maybe unwanted, but it’s not very greasy.
But I don’t know if you can simply stop using Soolantra and switch over to Cetaphil. In my case, Soolantra did lower the lesions/problem a lot, but it didn’t stop the problem completely. It was after using Sudocrem Sudocrem saved me! for a few days that I’m almost like 100% cleared. (I say “almost” because I sometimes do see very small lesions, but they are rare, small and doesn’t really ooze, even though they look similar to the lesions.) I think after Sudocrem, I started using Cetaphil continously to keep the skin heathly and protected. But Cetaphil by itself probably isn’t able to remove/combat the lesions (whereas Sudocrem possibly does, like Soolantra), it possibly does provide/maintain protection.
So in my case, it’s unclear what exactly made me clear. Maybe there is some other factor that I’m unaware of. But if Soolantra is helping but isn’t fixing the problem to near 100%, than it may be worth trying to use Sudocrem. And than, Cetaphil to maintain and protect. (Not sure if I can replace Cetaphil with any moisturizer.)
So far so good! I’ve been using Soolantra for just over a month now and apart from the outbreak I had when I started using it, which persisted for the first few days, I haven’t had anything. The tube they gave me was only 30g which is obviously hardly anything so I need to go back and ask for more as it’s running very low now.
I’ve been using Soolantra for just over a month now and apart from the outbreak I had when I started using it, which persisted for the first few days, I haven’t had anything. The tube they gave me was only 30g which is obviously hardly anything so I need to go back and ask for more as it’s running very low now.