I haven't seen anything on using light therapy for folliculitis. It makes sense that it might help though.

Also with the antifungals - they won't do much if you aren't maintaining the antifungal, low yeast diet. How long did you cut down your sugar intake?

Oh, the diet was off and on. I didn't keep a detailed food diary, so it's hard to say. Basically, I can be good for a couple of weeks at a time .... and then I indulge. But if I have to eat a low-sugar diet regardless, and if I can control the folliculitis that way, what's the point of having to take all these expensive supplements? I really don't believe that ANYTHING is going to knock this stuff out permanently.



The bumps that popped up yesterday morning are all gone. No redness or discoloration at all ... just a little bit of dry, uneven skin on my forehead. It was a nice sunny weekend and I think that helps!

Also, I just started using a new product: Vivant Rejuv RX. I'm layering it under Green Cream at night, with a 30-minute wait period. It's a peptide product, and also an anti-inflammatory .... I figure that's gotta help with these bumps. The only drawback is that it also contains lactic acid, and I really do not need another AHA in my regimen .... I'll have to see how this goes.

On the whole, my skin looks really good again. Hope it lasts.

Let me know what you think of the Vivant Rejuv product. I'll probably need to add a peptide product into my regimen one of these days (probably whenever I stop using at least some of my acne products - whenever that is!)

Also heads up that Vivant is going to start selling a Mandelic Scrub soon. Laura had some sample bottles that Dr Fulton gave her and I tested it out for her and really liked it a lot. I only used it as a body scrub for my folliculitis, but its meant to be a facial scrub.

I like the Rejuv so far, although it's really too soon to be commenting ... it's one of those long-term treatments. It does, however, noticeably bring down inflammation in the folliculitis bumps.


Today's new angle: trying a topical coal tar gel called Psoriasin on the worst patches (cheeks, forehead).


LATER: Good news -- everywhere I used the new gel, the bumps are now completely gone. Bad news -- the skin there is now sort of sunburned-looking. Not raw or burned .... just brightly flushed. I was outside for a little while this afternoon, so I suppose there might actually be some sun/wind involved, but I don't have redness anywhere else.

I'll handle my face with care tonight, and we'll see how things look in the AM.

Skin looks good today! Redness is entirely gone; no new bumps; old bumps have almost entirely disappeared.

No bumps or redness today .... coal tar gel is still working.

I suppose the fungus will build up resistance to it in time, so I'm going to use it for a week or two (I'm also using the mandelic cleanser), and then I'll rotate back to the DermaDoctor cleanser.

No bumps or redness today. Also, the flaky skin around my eyebrows is gone.

Still using the coal tar gel once a day .... and my skin looks the best it has since last fall. Despite PMS, no bumps or inflammation at all.

I am starting to wonder if I was mis-diagnosed, or if perhaps I have two fungal ailments at once? The ketoconazole treatments for PF really never worked well for me ... but the zinc pyrithione cleanser and the coal tar gel, both of which are generally recommended for seborrheic dermatitis, help my skin enormously.

I don't know if the itchy bumps can be associated with SD as well as PF ... but I do get flaky patches on my cheeks and around my eyebrows that sound an awful lot like SD.

That's entirely possible that you have SD. The bumps you get are mostly red, right? Most of the PF pics that I have seen are white/flesh-colored bumps with a tiny bit of pus in them (looks more like comdeonal acne, but doesn't extract). A friend of mine that I visit in Chicago has SD and he had a lot of red bumps and flakiness on his cheeks - I actually assumed it was acne when I first saw him. He finally got diagnosed with SD and went on antifungal medications and it cleared up.

I get SD on one eyelid at the bridge of the nose; selsun blue has prevented a resurfacing of it. Selsun Blue has selenium sulfide and it's also an antifungal. I'm so glad you've found what works for you!

lol, apparently I have SD on my cheeks and eyebrows and PF on my forehead and jaw.



I might add this to my shower collection. I use H&S once every week or two, and it keeps the hairline bumps away .... but as I am realizing, I have to keep mixing it up or the fungus just comes back.



It always looks worst after a shower, for some reason. If there are any bumps at all, that's when they show up most .... but an hour or so later, they might be gone again. Or not.

Anyway, still looking good today.

Still bump-free!

I'm doing pretty well with my low-sugar diet. A little dark chocolate here and there, that's all.

Still clear! One itchy bump came up at my hairline yesterday, but the Psoriasin zapped it overnight.

I'm not even using it every day now, and when I do, it's only to spot treat.

Im glad to hear your fairly clear! Forgive me for I've only read half of your log,But I do try to keep up. Anywho I had acne for seven years now and I finally cleared it up using a certain product . I'm not sure if it will work for your conditions though, It is called cor silver soap. It uses non-colloidial silver in it and it costs around 120$ for a big bar(not worth it) or 12.99$ for a small bar(two smalls last a month!). Its PH is around 7,good for the face seeing as how the face's PH is around 5. You might just want to goggle it. I do hope this helps in any way, best of luck!

Still no bumps ... haven't even been using the coal tar gel the past few days. Apparently I am in fungal remission.

LionQueen, I think what you might have is a Candida ovegrowth problem. You said the bumps only come up after sugar and carbs, which is the main Candida feeder. There's a decent amount of info on it and a huge range of symptoms. What helped me was going to Candidafree.net and reading up on it.

Hope that helps

Thanks, Eryka. I have done a bit of reading on candida .... but I'm not convinced I have a systemic problem. It seems pretty localized.

Still doing well. A small scaly patch did come up on my scalp, behind the hairline -- I don't use the Psoriasin there. It's drying up now, though. A couple of bumps popped up on my lower cheeks, but dried up very quickly.

So I'm not out of the woods, but things feel well under control.

Staying clear.

Had an itchy bump above the eyebrow yesterday, and some small red patches on one cheek ... all gone now.

You said that you were looking for a gentle cleanser... I've looked around for quite a while for a good one. I found that Cetaphil and Dan's acne.org cleanser work really well for me. The soapless cleansers tend to be the least irritating. However, when looking for a soapless cleanser be sure to check the packaging for any comedogenic ingredients.