I'm a 16 year old guy and I was diagnosed with perioral dermatitis by my pediatrician. I dealt with it for a while (started winter when I was 15) but eventually it got out of hand. So, I was perscribed metronidazole cream which helped but eventually it started to come back and the cream wasn't so effective. I went back, and my pediatrician gave me erithromycin gel, which again did not do much. I was so fed up and it kept getting red and looked terrible so I went to a dermatologist. She said what I got was not wrong, but it wasn't perfect. She said that often times in teens perioral is connected with acne. So rather than giving me strictly antibiotics she gave me a plan to clear up my acne. In the morning I use clindamycin phosphate mixed with benzoyl peroxide and at night I use tretinoin cream (I know it's a steroid, it still works!). As long as I don't apply the tretinoin directly to the affected area, it helps rather than inflames it... Before I put it directly on and it looked like my skin exploded. Today, my perioral dematitis is hardly noticable and my acne has for the most part subsided as well. The moral of the story: SEE A DERMATOLOGIST. Also, if you're a teenager it's probably your acne.
Can you see a dermatologist on the NHS or is it one of the things one needs to do privately?
Be careful using a steroid on your face. I actually have the same thing and they prescribed me the metronidazole as well. It started thinning my skin and creating little red vains so I wanted to get off of it (antibiotics cleared up the perioral) now my face is going through topical steroid withdrawal from using it for three years and let me tell u, this is way worse. It's called red skin syndrome. Google it. Terrible and painful and ugly. So just be careful!!! Ur skin becomes addicted. 🙈
I saw a private one... She was a family friend of mine who was highly recommended but I'm sure your pediatrician/doctor can recommend one for you