6 replies to this topic

[mildacnelady]

Hi all!

I am a 22 year old female who has had amazing, perfect skin her whole life, and I've been incredibly grateful for it. Since coming off birth control around 6 weeks ago, I have been suffering from mild acne, and who knows how to correct this--it's certainly not bad (and I cannot complain, what some people go through with acne is just awful) but enough that I thought I'd ask my doctor about it. He gave me 2 little sample tubes of Epiduo, and told me to 'apply a very thin layer before bed'. So off I went home and I popped some on, and by the first day my chin, cheeks, upper lip and up the side of my face were itchy and light red...and now it's a mess. I can hardly move, the skin around my mouth is on fire, it itches and burns and stings and is so, SO red, dry and flaky. The doctor also DIDN'T tell me not to put it near my eyes, so my eyelids are similar, very dry and cracked and sore. I have stopped using it (haven't in 2 days) and went down to the local chemist, and the pharmacist said she thinks it's an allergic reaction (said at first 'it looks like eczema' and then said 'allergic contact dermatitis'), so told me to take antihistamines and use QV moisturiser. It burns like crazy and feels horrible.

Here's a photo of it at the moment:


That actually doesn't do it much justice, it's a lot redder than what the image shows (probably because I'm in a room painted green haha!).

Anyway--has anyone else suffered from this problem? Is this a reaction or what's supposed to happen? Any advice??

[Green Gables]

You may have seb derm. Google it.

[mildacnelady]

Interesting. I wouldn't have thought that seb derm would be something you can get from an allergic reaction to a medication. I'm assuming, then, that this ISN'T what's supposed to happen when you use Epiduo?

[Green Gables]

Some redness and flaking is normal, but the pattern resembles some patterns of seb derm.

Epiduo is differin + benzoyl peroxide. Differin alone is quite mild, mild enough that is prescribed to rosacea patients (rosacea skin can hardly tolerate any acne treatments). Benzoyl peroxide is only mildly irritating to most people.

There is a small percentage of the population that have a contact dermatitis reaction to benzoyl peroxide however. You may be in that group if it's not seb derm.

Sorry I can't be more definitive. You'll find that a lot of skin conditions resemble each other. Even dermatologists are just playing a guessing game with your skin.

If my skin were reacting that way to Epiduo however, I would stop using the Epiduo, or at least cut back (to once every 3 days) and see if it got any better.

Edited by Green Gables, 17 September 2012 - 10:24 PM.

[mildacnelady]

Thanks for your advice, I'm off to the doctor tomorrow to see what she thinks. It hurts like crazy!!

If anyone else has any experience with this or something similar, please feel free to comment.

[Green Gables]

Thanks for your advice, I'm off to the doctor tomorrow to see what she thinks. It hurts like crazy!!

If anyone else has any experience with this or something similar, please feel free to comment.

Good luck. I found out early on that my skin simply does not tolerate benzoyl peroxide, despite my trying to force it for a whole year.

I did much better with a sulfur/sulfacetamide wash. Sulfur/sulfacetamide is multi-functional and is approved for the treatment of acne, seborrheic dermatitis, and rosacea. So if you've got to play a guessing game, it's a pretty safe bet.

Edited by Green Gables, 17 September 2012 - 10:45 PM.

[mildacnelady]

Thanks for your advice, I'm off to the doctor tomorrow to see what she thinks. It hurts like crazy!!

If anyone else has any experience with this or something similar, please feel free to comment.

Good luck. I found out early on that my skin simply does not tolerate benzoyl peroxide, despite my trying to force it for a whole year.

I did much better with a sulfur/sulfacetamide wash. Sulfur/sulfacetamide is multi-functional and is approved for the treatment of acne, seborrheic dermatitis, and rosacea. So if you've got to play a guessing game, it's a pretty safe bet.

A whole year? You poor thing!! I've never heard of the slufur/sulfacetamide wash before, I will have to look into it. I've never had anything like this before, which makes me think it's an allergic reaction rather than seb derm (unless seb derm can be caused by an allergic reaction to something). I've never actually been diagnosed with it but my skin does have that rosacea-like appearance to it on any old day (as does my mum's and her mum's), so that's also quite interesting. I'm not really sure how to proceed with the acne I have (primarily on my forehead) that has come up since stopping BC--it just doesn't seem to want to clear up, despite being off BC for almost 3 months. Who knows.