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21 year old male. Had great skin all through out high school, and then about 2 years ago i started getting acne. then it turned into pretty much i always had acne around my chin area. I always had this small rash like spot near my mouth, never thought too much of it. recently went to the doctor about my acne and i started using retin-A 0.05% cream and clindamycin phosphate 1% gel. I actually burned myself the first time using those products because i used a clarasonic brush and it made my skin raw for about 4 days and it was bright red. This is what i think that caused my Perioral Dermatitis. (which i havent been to the doctor about yet, just a self diagnose)
My skin has been dry for a couple years now, and always having to put some kind of lotion on. but now with the Perioral Dermatitis it is worse. i was using cetaphil moisturizing cream, but now only skin gel which is aloe vera based. Nothing seems to be working. last couple showers i havent been washing my face with soap, and today i actually havent used any aloe vera and letting my face dry out to see if it helps.
Please someone help diagnose this weird and annoying rash.
I have read that antibiotics are the way to go.
The picture attached is my face with no lotion, so you can imgaine if i did have lotion on it would be a blotch of redness around my mouth.
I get dry skin and I wash it away, takes a few washes to get rid of it, I have to wash it, let it dry, then I can visibly see all the white flakes, then I repeat until it's gone. I too remember a tiny rash on my chin in the corner, but that was such a long time ago, before I had any problems with my skin. It looked like a virus at the time, a small dry patch.
I've had PD a couple times before and actually just recently developed a spot near my mouth which I'm currently getting over. Each time I've had to go on antibiotics. The first time I was on antibiotics for 2 months and the last two times (including this one) I've only been on a month. It is generally cleared by the end of the first month. In the meantime you should try yogurt masks (if the area is really irritated since this feels incredibly soothing), as well as ACV (diluted 50/50 with water. Something I recently tried was antifungal cream which actually really helped the area as well. The key is to keep the area clean and dry while on the antibiotics.
I get PD when there is a drastic change in temperature or when my skin is dried out too much, which sounds like what happened to your face with the topicals. Go get a round of antibiotics and it should clear within a month or two.
Best of luck,
Hoots
Hey,
I've tried both Teracycline and Minocycline and have had more success with the latter. Honestly though it seems as though each react different with different peoples bodies. I've also heard that Doxycycline is the strongest. Any of them should help get rid of PD.
As for the yogurt mask, I would use plain all natural yogurt if the area hurts in any way. I found it to be very soothing. All you have to do is slather it on the infected areas and let it dry. After about 20 minutes you can wash it off. Do that as many times as needed.
Many people on this forum and who have experience dermatitis swear by ACV. So what I did was buy natural ACV (with mother) and dilute it 50/50 with water. I found it did sting a bit but keep using it on the infected areas or all over as a toner and you should see improvement in a couple weeks. When I was using it, it was drying out my skin a little too much so I added in my moisturizer again (cetaphil) and that worked like a charm.
Hoots
Oh, I guess I forgot to mention, I used the yogurt mask whenever I had free time in the day and the ACV as a toner in the morning and at night.
