49 replies to this topic

[Sandy100]

I have the same thing
take a look at my photos.I got the first one back when I was 17 and it didnt change since than. Im 38 and I recently got additional 3 bumps for my "nose bumps collection"... it is like skin access, nothing underneath that you can squeeze it. all bumps comes after already clear up pimple.

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 
• 

[Brawn]

does it feel like there is something hard under the bumps?

[GetRidOfMyScars]

Is your nose oily? If so, it could be sebaceous hyperplasia.

[Sandy100]

Is your nose oily? If so, it could be sebaceous hyperplasia.

yes it is very oily.
How can I treat sebaceous hyperplasia?

[Sandy100]

does it feel like there is something hard under the bumps?

Hi,
Thank you for the response
No, it doesnt feel like there is something hard under the bumps, it is just raised skin

[Timehealsall]

its probably a fibrous papule.

You could have it cauterized

[Brawn]

do you notice any other bumps on areas other than your nose?

and if you look closely, are the bumps slightly paler/yellowish compared to the surrounding skin?

[Sandy100]

do you notice any other bumps on areas other than your nose?

and if you look closely, are the bumps slightly paler/yellowish compared to the surrounding skin?

Yes I do have bumps on other areas and all are the same skin color, No slightly paler/yellowish color. im attaching new pictures of the my chin area, if I stretches the skin, the bumps in this area disappear, what make me believe this is skin access/growth.
Also this condition develops, bumps are getting bigger and spreading

Thanks again for your help!

Attached Thumbnails

• 

Edited by Sandy100, 23 July 2011 - 07:54 AM.

[Brawn]

yeah, that's definitely sebaceous hyperplasia

i have the same thing on my nose and chin area as well as pretty much all over my face

the ones on my nose seemingly appeared in place of cystic pimples

anyway, luckily for you, im a self professed expert on SH treatments, and although expensive, the best treatment with no risk whatsoever is the Smoothbeam laser.

electrocautery is in a way more effective than laser because it literally cuts off the lesions, but it carries the risk of scarring.

tca cross MAY work, i remember reading someone's post about his/her success, but there have also been failures and someone reported scarring

there are other treatments, but they are not worth mentioning due to risks/ineffectiveness

[Sandy100]

yeah, that's definitely sebaceous hyperplasia

i have the same thing on my nose and chin area as well as pretty much all over my face

the ones on my nose seemingly appeared in place of cystic pimples

anyway, luckily for you, im a self professed expert on SH treatments, and although expensive, the best treatment with no risk whatsoever is the Smoothbeam laser.

electrocautery is in a way more effective than laser because it literally cuts off the lesions, but it carries the risk of scarring.

tca cross MAY work, i remember reading someone's post about his/her success, but there have also been failures and someone reported scarring

there are other treatments, but they are not worth mentioning due to risks/ineffectiveness

Hi Brawn,
Im not sure if you can tell by the picture that I have dark olive skin with tendency to pigmentation. I also did 2 years ago Fraxel Laser, which caused me hyperpigmentation.
so is still laser going to be a good solution for my skin?
What do you think about steroid injections?
Thank you again
Sandy

[Brawn]

hi again

my skin has the same level of tan as yours and i have so much hyperpigmentation from acne that i would estimate that about 25% of my cheeks are hyperpigmentated.

that said, the smoothbeam has never caused hyperpigmentation on my nose, BUT it has caused an extremely light hyperpigmentation when used on some areas of my cheeks. however, this faded within 1 to 2 weeks. this light hyperpigmentation was only noticeable to me because i pay extremely close attention to my skin. furthermore, it was nowhere near the level of severity of hyperpigmentation that results from acne.

that said, the SH on my nose is quite a bit larger than on my cheeks, and i noticed that only the small SH became lightly hyperpigmented after the Smoothbeam. i hypothesize that this is because in the case of larger SH, the larger oil gland absorbs more of the laser, whereas with smaller SH, the smaller oil glands absorb less and the laser is absorbed into the surrounding skin that can hyperpigment

but seeing that your's are much larger than any SH on my face, this should definitely not be a problem

also note that Fraxel is MUCH stronger than the Smoothbeam. the smoothbeam is an extremely weak laser that specifically targets oil glands. in fact, i called a clinic and they said that they stopped using the smoothbeam for scars because it was too weak

looking at your skin, i would say that it has less risk to hyperpigmentation from the smoothbeam than with my skin

NOTE: again, this light hyperpigmentation that i'm talking about is extremely subtle and only occurred once on a small area of my cheeks in 2 years of Smoothbeam treatments. you probably have no chance of this happening to you

from my understanding, steroid injections would also work, but carry the risk of 'dissolving' the bump so much that you are left with a hole in the skin

however, if your dermatologist is skilled, he/she could use a steroid injection on the large ones until they are so small that another round of steroid injection would 'go overboard' and result in a 'hole'. once it reaches that point, you could use the Smoothbeam to finish it off

however, my experience with steroid injections has been with treating hypertrophic scars (excess collagen) on my face. my scars required 4 injections before it was flat enough that an additional injection carried the risk of creating a 'hole. your bumps are oil glands, so i do not know how they would respond to steroid injections and it is possible that even 1 injection could carry the risk of creating a 'hole' (but i doubt it)

my dermatologist (who diagnosed both my SH and hypertrophic scars) decided that steroid injection was best for my hypertrophic scars, but decided that my SH would best be treated with laser. this may be because my SH were not as large as my hypertrophic scars and it would be too risky to inject them with steroids.

although your SH are larger than mine, personally, i wouldn't risk steroid injection in your case. it is less costly and can shrink them more quickly, but this is your face and i believe it's best to play it safe. in this case, the Smoothbeam is the safer option.

good luck!

ps. if you decide to go for the Smoothbeam, please update us on your results!

Edited by Brawn, 23 July 2011 - 07:26 PM.

[Prettywords]

Someone had great success with EC on bumps, reported it and then left. I don't remember their name.

[Sandy100]

Dear Brawn,

I went to 4 different derms.
The 1st told me there is nothing to do and it might be some form of rosacea
The 2nd gave me doxycycline 50 mg twice a day.
The 3rd ask me to lower the doxy to once a day.
and the 4th suggested steroid injections or electrocautery
but none of them gave me a specific diagnosis.

I also sent my pics to an internet known rosacea dr and he offer to treat me with a low dose accutane (isotretinoin) saying I have subtype 3 of Rosacea called Phymatous/Rhinophyma

After reading and checking my options I decided to go with the steroid injections.
I did that 10 days ago and I dont see ANY improvement/difference so far, that makes me worried it might not be the right treatment for my bumps.
I also stopped taking my doxycycline. instead Im taking for the last few days Saw Palmetto 320mg a day, which did help reduce my oil skin level. from my understanding if this condition comes form oil glands enlargement, so maybe the sow palmetto can stop that from developing?

What do you think about low dose accutane?
How many smoothbeam treatment have you done?
Do you have new bumps coming after the smoothbeam treatments?

Thanks

Attached Thumbnails

• 

Edited by Sandy100, 24 July 2011 - 06:17 AM.

[Sandy100]

Someone had great success with EC on bumps, reported it and then left. I don't remember their name.

Thank you, do you mean electrocautery?

[brandmaster]

I am getting electro cautery done on Aug 8 with my derm for bumps on my nose too to smooth things out. Luckily I dont have sunken scars from acne only raised ones (not really lucky I guess haha) similar to yours. I have seen the doctor a couple of times over the last 2 months and this was the best option for me.

But look for the post that Anti em was talking about because I found it too. He has exactly what you did and was super happy with his results. He said something like it was 90%-100% better. But like Anit em said he never reposted anything after that.

[brandmaster]

Oh here is his post http://www.acne.org/messageboard/eliminate...hyp-t31443.html

[Brawn]

Medication that only reduces oil production does not reduce the occurrence or size of the bumps, unfortunately

Accutane also reduces oil production, but may also reduce the size a little bit because it 'cripples' the oil glands, but unfortunately will not remove the bumps, especially at a low dose

I have undergone approximately 18 smoothbeam treatments on the largest bumps on my nose

and 2 smoothbeam treatments on the rest of my face (cheeks, forehead, etc.)

because SH is genetic, the bumps will keep coming back, even if you decide to cut them off with EC. This is why every time I reduce the bumps with a smoothbeam treatment, they get slightly larger again before my next smoothbeam treatment. Fortunately, 1 treatment shrinks them much more than the amount that they grow within 1 to 2 months. So in the end, even after you completely remove the bumps with the smoothbeam, you will likely want to go back for 'maintenance' treatments once a year or so.

before the 18 smoothbeam treatments on my nose, i couldn't see what my nose actually looked like because the bumps clumped together into a mass that covered pretty much 75% of my nose and made my nose look bulbous. after the treatments, i can now differentiate between what is my actual nose and the outline of the bumps. needless to say, the bumps are MUCH smaller but if i had to guess, i would say that i require another 10 treatments to guarantee that the bumps are completely gone.

NOTE: my bumps about the same size are yours but cover a much larger area

i had smaller bumps on other parts of my face, and after just 1 treatment, most of them completely disappeared.

i know 18 treatments sounds like a lot (it is), but it is over the course of 2 years (1 treatment every 1 to 2 months). to have my entire face treated, it costs approximately $300. if it is just my nose, it is about $180. It fluctuates depending on how many times he zaps.

go for 1 smoothbeam treatment, on just the ones on your chin. if it works, then you found your answer. if it doesn't, i couldn't imagine it setting you back more than $150. Plus, it generates collagen and definitely shrinks oil glands so that area might be a little less oily even if the bumps themselves turn out to not be SH and do not shrink.

in the end, there's nothing to lose and everything to gain!

EDIT: sorry sandy, i mentioned that your bumps are larger than mine in an earlier post. after looking at them again, they look exactly the same size as mine. they are even the same color and are most severe on the same areas of my face

Edited by Brawn, 24 July 2011 - 08:30 PM.

[Prettywords]

Someone had great success with EC on bumps, reported it and then left. I don't remember their name.

Thank you, do you mean electrocautery?

Yes.

I am getting electro cautery done on Aug 8 with my derm for bumps on my nose too to smooth things out. Luckily I dont have sunken scars from acne only raised ones (not really lucky I guess haha) similar to yours. I have seen the doctor a couple of times over the last 2 months and this was the best option for me.

But look for the post that Anti em was talking about because I found it too. He has exactly what you did and was super happy with his results. He said something like it was 90%-100% better. But like Anit em said he never reposted anything after that.

Good luck and post on your experience.


Brawn.

I'm glad SB worked for you.

I'm a bit scared to get it because I don't have oily skin anymore, and in fact, have to watch my skin doesn't get dry. I'm afraid my skin will be a dry, wrinkly and fragile looking mess afterwards because I won't have enough oil.

I think, but don't know, that if you remove the bumps and you aren't super oily afterward that they'll stay away, because they come from oil. I'm guessing we all got this when we had very oily skin -- I know I did.

[Brawn]

hi, thanks, i'm very glad SB worked for me too!

my dermatologist told me that oil gland size is not correlated with oil production (he used some fancy dermatology words, so i believe he knows what he's talking about)

so basically, even if you shrink the enlarged oil glands, your skin will still produce oil at the same rate

also, oil does not increase the size of oil glands, if you have large oil glands, you will produce more oil

oil gland = oil factory
bigger oil factory = more oil
soaking an oil factory in oil does not make the factory larger

[GetRidOfMyScars]

Has anyone tried using wart remover on their SH? I bought one yesterday whose main ingredient is 17% salicylic acid and I started puttung it on last night. I'll see how it goes.