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Hey again everyone; I wanted to come back and thank MrsZ for all her help. I'm starting my accutane course in a week so hopefully things will be okay. I was taking Solodyn 40 mgs but I stopped after a week of use, I hope that wasn't a mistake. I might start taking it again now and double my dosage to 80mgs before I start my course next week. I'm not sure, but anyway, again I want to really thank MrsZ for taking the time out to come here and being so generous with her time and sharing her experience with all of us.
Oh- also I'm not sure what products I'll be using during my course just yet but most likely Cerave as that does have the ceramides. As far as cleanser, I have no idea at this point. SLS seems to be a no-no w/ steroid induced rocasea so does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
Directed to Mrs. Z, or LionQueen, or anybody with experience dealing with atrophied skin:
I went to a derm today and he said that differin is good for treating inflammation and has anti-microbial properties..he said what I have is not eczema...but he also in a smug way, he has never heard of steroid-induced rosacea!? So i asked him what I have and he didn't give me a straight answer other than he thinks its something to do with my skin being so messed up; atrophied from being on past creams...he wants me to start using a medication that contains differin and bp! I asked him whether or not that would irritate my skin, but he seems to think it will do the opposite.
I think this is a curious suggestion..anybody else been given such advice?
I think you should listen to him,My sister had steriod induced rosacea and got off doxy and recently i was at her place and looked at her products and shes usuing differin now and its almost empty and her skin looks great.
I use finacea though,have u ever thought of that?
I found some reviews for you
http://www.acne.org/adapalene-differin-reviews/21/page1.html
very mixed results
I have a tube of it under my counter,I think i got it last summer but tried it once and stopped because it was summer and i didnt want a sensitive to sunlight product but if you apply a sensitive to sun product at night and wash it off in the morning,is your skin still sensitive in the day?
Next time you see him ask about finacea
it has an antimicrobial effect
Weird he said BP and Differin if your skin is red
or do you have alot of acne?
a pic would be helpful
Halfpipe,
The topical the derm prescribed for me is called Epiduo, which is a new gel containing Differin and 2%bp. It's supposed to be not so harsh on the skin...The reason why he chose this topical is because I mild acne in the form little bumps underneath the skin that sometimes gets inflamed and becomes semi-large papsules; which take forever to go away...
He said the Differin aspect of it helps with inflammation and has anti-microbial properties, which is great, but don't retinoids thin the skin? And if I have steroid-induced Rocasea then that means my skin is already too thin right? Wouldn't that be the opposite effect of what I'm trying to improve on?
And I'm afraid that the bp will irritate my skin more than it is...but for some reason he thinks it is OK...So I'm confused as to what I should do...
Can you ask your sister what kind of effects the Differin gel had on her skin -- did it further thin out her skin? And did things get worse before getting better?
Hate&Love: Cerave makes a cleanser that has ceramides in it and is excellent to use while on Accutane. I used it when I was on Accutane. I wish you all the best, just know that the road to recovery via Accutane can be a long and bumpy one - but the end should be worth it.
ComplexIssues - let me be frank with you...
YOU ARE YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY
I am sure that your skin problems are real and traumatic for you. But, I agree with halfpipe without posting a picture of your skin we cannot give you proper advice. Going from doctor to doctor and then dismissing their advice will get you know where. I think it is curious that these doctors never diagnose you with anything. Nor do they prescribe you anything more than steriods or antibiotics which are sort of all purpose skin fixers. There are a ton of products out there that will address inflammation, acne, rosacea and/or eczema but you have never mention a doctor prescribing or recommending them. Either you are not listening to these doctors or there really isn't anything seriously wrong with your skin outside of mild acne and inflammation. I suggest you read the following book:
http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Type-Solution-L...2312&sr=1-1
This doctor also has a message board and is the spokeswoman for Financea, which I agree with halfpipe again - is a product you should investigate.
I am sorry to be so harsh and critical. But, I really don't want to continue to give you advice unless you post a picture.
ComplexIssues - let me be frank with you...
YOU ARE YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY
I am sure that your skin problems are real and traumatic for you. But, I agree with halfpipe without posting a picture of your skin we cannot give you proper advice. Going from doctor to doctor and then dismissing their advice will get you know where. I think it is curious that these doctors never diagnose you with anything. Nor do they prescribe you anything more than steriods or antibiotics which are sort of all purpose skin fixers. There are a ton of products out there that will address inflammation, acne, rosacea and/or eczema but you have never mention a doctor prescribing or recommending them. Either you are not listening to these doctors or there really isn't anything seriously wrong with your skin outside of mild acne and inflammation. I suggest you read the following book:
http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Type-Solution-L...2312&sr=1-1
This doctor also has a message board and is the spokeswoman for Financea, which I agree with halfpipe again - is a product you should investigate.
I am sorry to be so harsh and critical. But, I really don't want to continue to give you advice unless you post a picture.
Mrs. Z,
I'm surprised and saddened at your response.
The statement about me dismissing all of their advice is absolute nonsense, and hastily concluded.
The truth is, I DID follow the prescriptions and advice of my derms, 99% of the time:
Anyway, to make a long story short, I finally got a diagnosis that what I have IS NOT eczema. It was agreed upon that the skin looked dry/thinned out and has bumps that could be a result of addiction, But this derm claimed smugly, he has never heard of the condition known as "steroid-induced rosecea". It's great he told me to stop putting on any more moisturizing cerams because I need to let my skin chill out. But interestingly he gave me the prescription of using epiduo; which seemed odd. So I asked him. He just said Differin has anti-inflammatory properties and that the bp would prevent future acne; he was a bit spartan in interaction, so I didn't get to any ask questions about it further thinning out my skin...
The point is, due to my diligence and intuition that this is not merely eczema, have I arrived at a place where I can say, progress is being made. And hence I asked halfpipe about the seemingly unintuitive nature of applying a product that's supposed to thin out the upper skin layer, when I already have thinned out skin. Is it so wrong, to ask around before applying a topical retinoid/bp that can make one's skin very irritated; your personal experiences with retinoids, suggests I'm not so overly cautious in my investigation.
p.s. I don't believe I ever relayed any information saying that derms have never diagnosed me with anything; after our correspondence I am utterly confused as to how you can arrive at this conclusion.
My regimen since Late Feb/Early March has been:
1.) Applying Epiceram moisturizing ceram in the morning and at night.
2.) About a month later, I was given Atopiclair, a non-steroid cream
to help augment the treatment after it was shown that the ceram had
a relatively mild effect.
Note: I found that applying both Epiceram or Atopiclair, would turn the
afflicted area red, especially the latter, so since I have to go to work, I ended
up applying Atopiclair only at night. By the morning, the redness would usually
have subsided to a degree; a brownish hue remained.
So it's been about 3 months since I've been on this treatment and it's never
improved beyond 25% at best, while fluctuating back and forth.
I have no doubt my condition has many eczema characteristics, such as
the skin feeling, rough, dry, discoloration, and affected by moisture; washing the face.
But at the same time, I felt the skin was also atrophied because it looked thinner,
shriveled -- this seemed to affect its ability to retain moisture...In my skin history
I've had trouble with SD, but never with general eczema..I even tried applying
an anti-fungus cream which normally works very well with SD related rashes,
but didn't seem to work, in fact it would make the area more red. Note that anything
I apply to that afflicted area would make it more red, another sign that this is not
your usual "eczema" condition.
Finally, after the post I wrote above regarding a new diagnosis, the last two days
I have not applied any cream on my skin after washing with only water, in an
experiment to see how the skin will respond. So far, the afflicted area experienced
periodical tingling and some flakiness, BUT it's held up alright; at first after
washing, the skin felt dry and rough, but by the morning, it was smoother and the
texture felt OK. I will continue with this regimen for as long as there is some improvement. There is still reddish/brown coloring of the skin, but hopefully that is temporary.
Anyway, so I still don't know why the derm prescribed epiduo given its effects. Does a retinoid really help with atrophied skin?
Hi all,
Sorry I am late to post. But, I wanted to chime in. Some of you (Wynne) have already heard my story but I think it's worth repeating especially since it sounds similar to what people have experienced with mometasone furoate. If ANYONE reading this can be spared the pain I've endured the last few months, it would be well worth it.
I've been on a BP regime similar to Dan's for about 20+ years. It has kept my face relatively clear during that time. Oh sure, I've tried Accutane (twice) and other "miracle" drugs, but always found myself going back to the BP.
Anyway, back in Feb I developed a rash between my eyes and went to the dermy. He diagnosed it as seborrheic dermatitis and prescribed mometasone furoate. He told me to apply just a little. What he didn't tell me was how long to apply it. Anyway, I used it for a week, and while the rash went away, it was replaced with a breakout. I went to another dermatologist who then prescribed desonide, which I found out was a lower dosage steroid. Did that for 2 weeks.
To make this already long story shorter, I went through steroid induced acne withdrawal hell for the past couple of months. At one point, it looked like I had smallpox. This happening after 20 plus years of relatively cleat skin. What is most upsetting is that these are supposedly professionals and ironically, I paid them to do this to me!
In any event, currently to treat the occasional seborrheic dermatitis, which is what some people here appear to have, I wash the area with believe it or not, Head and Shoulders for seborrheic dermatitis. It's the dark blue bottle. Apply it and leave on for about 3 - 5 mins, do it for about 2 weeks and then once a week afterwards to keep it in check.
As for the steroid induced acne, it has been reduced to a lot of dark brown spots with a few icepick scars. No more acne (thank god) back on the BP regime and a weekly glycolic peel to speed up the reduction of hyperpigmentation.
I hope this helps someone.
MrsZ, my derm has given me 40 mgs and wants to up me to 60mgs next month, he seems to really want to attack this aggressively, it appears as though the low dose course is totally out the window. I'm a little scared this approach will make things worse and cause flushing and additional redness, more so with the 60 mgs. I weight 105 lbs, what do you think of this dosage considering the condition of my skin and my weight? I'm a little nervous about it but for now I'm just trying to keep the faith. Thanks.
MrsZ, my derm has given me 40 mgs and wants to up me to 60mgs next month, he seems to really want to attack this aggressively, it appears as though the low dose course is totally out the window. I'm a little scared this approach will make things worse and cause flushing and additional redness, more so with the 60 mgs. I weight 105 lbs, what do you think of this dosage considering the condition of my skin and my weight? I'm a little nervous about it but for now I'm just trying to keep the faith. Thanks.
60mg - 80mg is typical for acne and 10mg - 20mg is typical for rosacea. You have both. The acne is probably the bigger problem for you and the rosacea, being steriod induced will most go away. My acne, albeit mostly steriod induced was really bad too - I ended up on 120mg.
I asked my dermatologist about appropirate dosages for rosacea when I was on Accutane and she told me that dosage is based upon what the particular patient needs not strictly a condition. You need to get the acne and steriod induced problems cleared up first. Please don't worry about the potential for flushing and blushing as experienced by a very small minority on this forum. You can deal with that IF and when it comes.
If anyone on this forum or anywhere else tells you that 60mg is too high for rosacea - ask them if they have steriod indcued rosacea and acne - and if they don't tell them they don't have the experience to make such a judgement.
I would not say dont worry about the post flushing as it happens to little amount of people like you said
I would say if your a white/fair skin person,you have the chance of a 50/50 of getting it
and I heard you say don't worry about it,you can deal with that if it comes
its very hard to deal with and the only people I have heard that are cured is lamarr and maybe one or two more
Halfpiple1 - I don't get you.
First you tell the poster that not to be worried because facial flushing only happens to a small group of people...
AND then go on to say there is a 50% chance of developing facial flushing. That is totally illogical.
And then to make matters worse you tell the poster that you do not know of anyone who has actually recovered from post-accutane flushing?
This poor person is suffering through steriod induced rosacea, just started Accutane is only 18 and scared as hell.
Your contradictory advice has no evidence to support it and it also really cruel to say this person who is terrified.
Hate&Love go to to post Accutane/Minoxcylcine thread and read carefully what Lamar1986 and SeattleJT have to say on the subject. They are very articulate and informed.
Your telling me don't tell him the risks?
and I said it happens to a small amount of people (small amount of fair people) Ethnic people take accutane too and ive never heard of one dark skin person getting flushing
you said don't worry about the flushing if it comes then we will deal with it..thats pretty stupid thing to say in my opinion because if he does get flushing throughout the day non stop it will lead to being a mess,and being severely depressed and hopefully hes one of the lucky ones and it goes away in time
and my sister had steroid induced and took doxy and i can barely see it now,i think doxy will be a better alternative then accutane
you want me to tell you the risks then so be it
mrs.z will to try to make you feel better and not tell you that you could be in alot worse shape if you get the risks
*moderator edit*
Hate&Love,
Honestly I would be very careful about accutane. After reading your posts it appears that you have really sensitive skin. I don't know how much you know about accutane, but it reduces the sebum glands and is therefore meant to dry up your skin. Generally, this results in your skin being more sensitive, but to varying degrees depending on the person. Also, some people recover their moisture rather quickly after accutane (first month post) but others only see a slight improvement in the dryness post accutane and have to deal with it long-term. I understand that MrsZ said that accutane helped with her steroid induced rosacea and I am not trying to imply that accutane cannot help you, but I also know that accutane can make things worse.
I am no expert on steroid induced rosacea, but I do know a lot about accutane. If I were in your place I would want to exhaust other treatment options before using accutane as a last resort because the side effects of accutane and the way it can alter your body makes it more dangerous than nearly any other drug out there. Keep in mind that accutane can cause side effects that continue long after stopping accutane as well as causing side effects that only appear POST accutane. At the very least you should be very aware of what kind of effect accutane is having on your body.
"Please don't worry about the potential for flushing and blushing as experienced by a very small minority on this forum. You can deal with that IF and when it comes." MrsZ
I don't believe that this quote accurately portrays the severity of post accutane flushing. Once again I am not implying that you will get flushing from accutane, but it really isn't something to be taken lightly. There are numerous problems with accutane flushing that make it very frustrating. Accutane flushing isn't something that you can just get rid of. Dermatologists and doctors do not know how to treat it (if they even will believe that the accutane and flushing are connected) and it will not respond to rosacea treatments. Some people have had it fade, but others (myself included) are still dealing with this two years post accutane. As far as I know there is also no cure for it. I am not trying to scare you, but it needed to be said if you want to make educated decisions regarding accutane.
Sigh. I'm beginning to get really hesitent because of all these posts. I'm on day 2 of 40 mgs and my face is quite redder than normal, but that could be because I've been using cerave despite the fact that my skin is not dry at all yet, and also I've washed my face 2x a day instead of the normal 1x a day which could be irritating. I think I will hold off on the moisturizer and just do my regular routine tonight, and if things aren't looking back to the way they were redness wise pre-accutane in a few days I'm going to call my derm and see about lowering the dose. Beyond just that though, with all these posts I'm starting to feel that this is totally hopeless and I'm never going to have normal skin again and also feel like maybe this is a mistake.
Sigh. I'm beginning to get really hesitent because of all these posts. I'm on day 2 of 40 mgs and my face is quite redder than normal, but that could be because I've been using cerave despite the fact that my skin is not dry at all yet, and also I've washed my face 2x a day instead of the normal 1x a day which could be irritating. I think I will hold off on the moisturizer and just do my regular routine tonight, and if things aren't looking back to the way they were redness wise pre-accutane in a few days I'm going to call my derm and see about lowering the dose. Beyond just that though, with all these posts I'm starting to feel that this is totally hopeless and I'm never going to have normal skin again and also feel like maybe this is a mistake.
Please don't feel like it is hopeless. I am not saying that there are not treatments for steroid induced rosacea because it is in fact the only rosacea that can be cured. What I am saying is that out of all the possible treatments accutane is the most dangerous and should only be used after exhausting other solutions.
It is such a catch 20 though TJ, In addition to my steroid indcuded rosacea I really do have quite moderate acne, which is what got me into this mess in the first place, that and an ignorant mistake on my part. Acne wise though I have a constant oil slicked face, literally thousands of clogged pores all over my face, not to mention hundreds of non-inflamed bumps that cover my forehead, cheeks, etc. Then also the inflammatory pimples that litter the bottom half of my face. All of this in addition to my rosacea and facial redness. I just feel like it is a lost cause; the only thing that's going to really touch my acne is accutane; I can't use topicals, benzoyl perozide burns my skin, finacea made things 5x worse rosacea wise, the ONLY topical I seem to be able to tolerate and benefit from is salicylic acid, and that barely skims the surface of the acne and clogged pores. So I just feel like I'm completely stuck at this point; my derm feels this is the best option for me concerning both conditions, I thought it was too but now after reading all these posts and seeing the slight increase in redness I'm so stressed not to mention depressed. I thought I was FINALLY going to fix things, finally get my life back, as I can't begin to describe the effect this has taken on me mentally and emotionally, I've become almost completely housebound, as this is difficult to cover with makeup, and even if you can cover it, all the scrubbing it takes to get it off afterwards just makes things worse and more irritated and red. I feel like I'm literally trapped within my own body; and now it seems that the key I thought I'd found might actually be a nail; and could just hurt me all the more. I don't know; I'm likely not making sense, my apologies. But for now I'm just going to go back to my normal routine, salicylic acid included, because my face is still disgustingly oil slicked and I'm thinking the moisturizer mixing with all that oil might be causing some irritation and redness, especially considering that I'm not used to moisturizer whatsoever. I guess I'll just see what happens, if things continue to look more red than normal, like I said I'll call my derm and lower it, and if things are still bad after that, well then evidently I will need to stop treatment and prepare to continue on with this brutal and miserable existence which is reality.
P.S- Sorry for the depressing post, but I'm really down. 
My apologies though.
