Hello, so I'm new here, but since I self-diagnosed my PD, these forums have been helping me treat it and now I'm hoping that I can get some further help by posting my own story. (Hopefully, it won't be too long to read)
A little about me:
I'm a 19 yr old female.
When I was a child I suffered from pretty bad eczema. Eczema would be in my elbow pit(? Sorry, I don't know the technical term for it), neck, face, legs, and the top of my back. My dad also suffered from a sort of skin condition and noticed how bad my eczema was getting so he decided to help me and gave me Hydrocortisone (steroid) cream to treat it. It worked on everything, especially the worst parts which was my neck and face. My face was pretty bad so it got treated with a facial wash which consisted of Chinese herbs and after that, it was cortisone and vaseline only on my face.
Since then, I have never really given a second thought to my aggravating skin condition. Every red little dot or tiny rash or itch that appeared on my body, the cream was my go-to. That is, until about a month ago.
Around mid to late December (Around this time, I also came down with the flu), I discovered some small bumpy, red dots around the folds of my nose. Thinking it was just some harmless dry spots, I put on the Hydrocortisone cream that I have depended and trusted so heavily since my youth. Couples days passed, I kept applying the cream on the spots -- no change. So, I stopped application and a couple days later, about half of it was gone. I continued the use of cortisone on other parts of my body and face but stopped on those spots. All the spots disappeared a couple days after, but a couple weeks into January, they came back. I thought, okay I'll just use the cream again... big mistake! The rash grew and grew and grew. What started to be a seemingly innocent patch of dry skin, turned out to be the monster of skin conditions.
It began spreading to my 'smile wrinkles'; the corners and upper-part of my lip; and my chin. I was frustrated and scared and lost as to what this thing on my face was and how to fix it. I began scouring the internet and finally came to the conclusion that it was Perioral Dermatitis.
A big cause of my PD was the overuse of topical steroids, which was obviously something I have done, considering I've been using it nearly every day since youth. So, I stopped using it immediately and began using Coconut oil (having read people's success stories when using it for their PD) for the infection. First couple days, and only using coconut oil on my face, the rash continued to spread, up my nose and out onto my (inner?) cheeks (not my cheeks, but closer to my nose... Sorry I don't know any technical terms haha). And that's also when my actual eczema began coming back on my face since I stopped moisturizing and using the cortisone. Coconut oil didn't seem to do anything but make it worse.
But, I also did read that after prolonged and dependent use of cortisone, when stopping usage, this would lead to withdrawal symptoms making everything flare up on the skin again, and that is just what happened so I'm not really sure if it's either that or the cocunut oil, either way, everything was getting worse.
I continued to look for some relief and cures online. I stumbled across this blog where she mentioned her PD went away with Anti-fungal cream! (Turns out, PD could be e fungal infection.) I read this and ordered a generic brand of Clotrimazole and applied it immediately when it arrived. About two days with this and vaseline on my face, no change but everything just seemed to keep getting worse. Then I decided to just wash my face with lukewarm water and apply just the Clotrimazole alone. Two days in doing this, my PD began to clean! I continued this for the next couple days and my PD continued to clear and those areas where the PD was, it began to flake and I can finally see and feel my old skin again.
(Also read that with cortisone withdrawal, symptoms would get worse before getting better) Soo, long story short, with my extremely sensitive skin, my PD would not react to anything by the anti-fungal cream. Thank goodness it's finally clearing up.
Sadly, my eczema came back much much worse than I remembered ever since stopping the cortisone use. So along with my PD, there is also eczema right next to it on my face, forehead, and eyelids. Also on my neck and elbow pits. Sigh...
So, I'm here asking these very important questions to continue my recovery from these terrible skin conditions.
1. For anyone who has recovered from PD, may you share the healing stages of it so I know when it's actually gone for sure? Like, how do I know it's actually gone?
2. Since my eczema is also back (and pretty bad), does anyone have any recommendations on treating my eczema on my face without triggering the PD again? Are there any moisturizers and creams that might help reduce/rid my eczema without triggering the PD? Any that would make my face smooth again too?
3. And what about cleansers? Same question for those. What do people recommend for a gentle but effective facial cleanser?
4. Any body lotions/creams that could help with my eczema on my body?
I think that's about it... If anyone needs any more info or questions, please do let me know. I'm just desperate for some help.
Thank you guys so much in advance! And for anyone suffering with it currently, know you're not alone and that with a great community of women, we can get through this together. 