I was hoping that some others who have also dealt with steroid induced rosacea might be able to give me some information on the time it will take for my skin to totally heal. I developed steroid rosacea after I like many others, developed a small rash on a cheek that wouldn't clear. I initially used over the counter hydrocortisone but after it didn't go away, I sought out treatment from my regular dermatologist. She prescribed me cutivate, which I later learned is a very strong steroid with instructions to use it for 3 days then switch to elidel to finish the treatment. At first it worked pretty well, but over time, it came back and my skin developed a tolerance to it. Then the rash spread to my nose and my brow area and eventually pimples.

I have had issues with eczema and acne for years so even though I went back to my derm two more times, months after she first prescribed this stuff, she just gave me stuff for acne and told me it was ok to keep using the cutivate. Eventually at the advice of a co-worker I sought a second opinion. By this time it had been about 13 months I had been using Cutivate. I had been reading online so I kind of knew what the diagnosis would be before I even saw the new derm. He knew right away what the problem was and was surprised my other derm had prescribed me that cream for my face, let alone told me to continue using it.

I was told to expect 2-3 weeks of it getting pretty worse and 2 months before it looks better. I had horrible flare up 3 days after I stopped using it, but my skin seems much improved even now just about a week and a half in.

I guess to make my long story short, I am still dealing with slight redness in affected areas, some slight itchiness but nothing severe, skin sensitivity and my pores that were already enlarged from having oily skin, now look even larger, like an orange on my cheeks and somewhat on my forehead. I can tell my skin is not normal...very dry, no oil hardly even though I have naturally very oily skin. I look like I have aged because of my skins condition. Every wrinkle and pore looks magnified.

From anyone who has experienced steroid rosacea, will these things return to normal once my skin has totally cleared? I feel embarassed by the condition of my skin and the way it looks

Just as a note, my new derm prescribed me 100mg of doxy and Biafine cream, a cream that is used to help heal wounds faster. I read up and it was originally given to burn victims but can be used on sunburns etc. In addition, I use only cetaphil gentle cleanser and instructed to use vaseline only in addition to the biafine to help with additional moisture.

I think her name is miss.x or something

but she recommended going on doxy and letting your skin heal

It is MrsZ.

I recovered from steroid induced rosacea. Cultivate, Locoid and Elidel were the toxic combination that sent me to steroid induced rosacea hell.

Your derm is right, it should take 2-3 months for the major flares to stop. However, it can take 6 months to a year for the skin sensitivity to stop. For the next year you will need to treat your skin gently.

The best treatements are oral and high dosage doxy (100 to 150 mg) is one of the best. Doxy should work very well, but it takes time. Typically doxy is prescribed for 3 to 4 months. You might not see any results until the last two weeks of treatment. But the results at the end of treatment are very much worth it and it will bring it under control.

I am so sorry you were given Elidel. Elidel is for eczema and is sometimes used for rosacea. But, it is horrible for steroid induced rosacea since it is believed to encourage demodex mite growth – which is a culprit in steroid induced rosacea.

I am not on the board much these days, so I may not reply if you post again. If you do a search on steriod induced rosacea you will find I have posted a ton of the topic.

You'll be fine.

MrsZ.

Thank you for your reponse. I have read some of your posts about your experience. They were helpful. I have been on doxy for 3 weeks now and I think I am seeing improvement although slow. I did want to ask you if you by chance experienced large pores as a result of the steroid rosacea? I normally have larger pores due to my naturally oily skin but it seems that since I have stopped the steroid, my pores appear to be larger..like they are deeper and more noticable? I think I mentioned before in my post, kind of like an orange peel, even now with most of the major swelling gone away. Do you know if this is permanent or will this return to normal as my skin is 100% healed? I am hoping that it is only as a result of the skins healing process since it is considerably more noticable and makes me feel quite self conscious.

thank you,
pcsnoopy

I also have steroid induced rosacea. Just wondering what I can apply topically to decrease the itch/redness/acne? What moisturizer should I use?

I would recommend you consult with a dermatologist you trust, but for my steroid rosacea, I was prescribed Doxycycline, 100mg once per day which immediately cleared up the bumps and papules I had within almost a week. As far as moisturizer is concerned, I was advised to only use Biafine topical emulsion which is only available by prescription. It helped to deal with the burning and some itching even though initially when I first put it on, it may sting a bit for 5 minutes. It is suppose to aid in helping skin to heal faster. It was also suggested that I could use Vaseline and prescription Mymix cream that I had for my eczema. None of these things has caused any more breakouts.

What is the difference between seborrheic dermatitis and steroid induced rosacea??

I had dry/red skin and my derm prescribed me desonide for it. I used it for like 4 months...since then my skin is in worse condition.

A different derm diagnosed me with seb derm, however I think it could be steroid induced rosacea?

Sometimes the redness and dryness goes into remission for a few days, however, is this a characteristic of steroid induced rosacea?

thanks

Yes, it is characteristic of steriod induced rosacea - you get really, really nasty flares that seem to come out of nowhere and then go into remission and then will reappear later. Its a nasty cycle. If you have been using desonide for four months, there is a good chance you have developed steriod dependency. The flareups of steriod induced rosacea can look like seb derm or eczema, and if you don't tell your derm that you have been using steriod creams - they will probably assume you have a form or eczema or seb serm.

As for everyone who is asking for a topical to help steriod induced rosacea - most topicals will make your skin worse. Especially OTC creams that claim to reduce redness. I agree with pcsnoopy's recommendations - although I am unfamiliar with the topical Biafine, I can say that Vaseline and Mimyx will help. I also endorse Aquaphor and Eucerin (use the classic version of these products that come in a large tub/jar and not the the moisturizers). These topicals whose primary ingredient is petroleum jelly - work by creating a barrier between your skin and the outside irritants. When you have steriod induced rosacea practically everything becomes an irritant to your skin. It also causes your skin to become more vunerable to bacteria.

The only viable topical treatment is one that protects your skin, while your skin "detoxes" from the steriods. The best thing for steriod induced rosacea are oral treatments. An oral antihistamine will calm the itching and an oral antibiotic will reduce inflammation and kill bacteria.