Hi All,

Has anyone out there had steroid-induced rosacea, and what is the best treatment option? Unfortunately I had minor seb-derm several years ago. My dermatologist first put me on a steroid cream, which she had me using 2x/week indefinitely. She also prescribed me elidel cream 6m ago. She told me I could use it every day, so I did for about a month.

A couple months ago I started to get what I thought was seb derm but much much worse than ever before. I now realize that it is steroid-induced rosacea. I'm not 100% sure if the steroids or the elidel caused this? I've heard that elidel is typically used to treat steroid-induced rosacea, but then in other places I've read that elidel can have similar withdrawl symptoms of it's own.

So my questions are 1.) Could the elidel be equally responsible? 2.) How do I treat this? I'm assuming my derm will prescribe either elidel or protopic, but given that I'm nervous that elidel could have played a hand in the problem, i'm not sure what to do?

Also if anyone has any success stories with this affliction please share them and how you cleared yourself, would be a moral booster. Many thanks!

Hi All,

 

Has anyone out there had steroid-induced rosacea, and what is the best treatment option? Unfortunately I had minor seb-derm several years ago. My dermatologist first put me on a steroid cream, which she had me using 2x/week indefinitely. She also prescribed me elidel cream 6m ago. She told me I could use it every day, so I did for about a month.

 

A couple months ago I started to get what I thought was seb derm but much much worse than ever before. I now realize that it is steroid-induced rosacea. I'm not 100% sure if the steroids or the elidel caused this? I've heard that elidel is typically used to treat steroid-induced rosacea, but then in other places I've read that elidel can have similar withdrawl symptoms of it's own.

 

So my questions are 1.) Could the elidel be equally responsible? 2.) How do I treat this? I'm assuming my derm will prescribe either elidel or protopic, but given that I'm nervous that elidel could have played a hand in the problem, i'm not sure what to do?

 

Also if anyone has any success stories with this affliction please share them and how you cleared yourself, would be a moral booster. Many thanks!

hi,

i can definitely relate. I've been using cortisone and steroids on my face on and off for years and finally the negative side effects started to show, leaving my chin red all the time, as well as the bridge of my nose and the sides of my face. on my chin/jaw I had scaly, red, itchy skin and nothing would help.

I'm currently living in Japan and the dermatologist I went to prescribed me Protopic to use only in the evenings on affected areas.

I'm not sure if you have been prescribed protopic or what changes have occurred since you last came on, but I think it's worth it to give protopic a shot for a couple weeks.

For me, it has taken some of the itch and the redness away and I'm going to keep using it for another month or so.

I also read that steroid induced rosacea has to do with bacteria within the body (not sure how true this is) so I've started changing my diet and while I don't know if it's helpful on the skin, it does make you feel better.

try eating raw broccoli, spinach, and beans.

I also drink a lot of Genmai Cha. it's japanese green tea and roasted brown rice mixed together and is really, really good for skin (so many anti-oxidants that I think are helpful with facial issues). If you can, try ordering it and giving it a shot. it tastes good too.

Also, ask your doctor about any medication you can take to fight the rosacea from the inside out and combine it with a topical.

I know exactly how you feel but it will go away. In addition to anything your doctor prescribes, fight it as best as you can by eating a very healthy diet and drinking a lot of water. best of luck!

hii i also used a steroid ointment on my face but i only used it for about half a year. i used it every night though around my nose and between my eyebrows.

when i first stopped my whole face was red and flushing constantly 24/7. i went to the derm a week after i stopped using the steroid and got prescribed antibiotics and clindamycin gel. then i flushed for about another three weeks. i believed the prescriptions really helped in stopping the flushing

but yea i stopped antibiotics after 2.5months and now i dont really flush anymore (4months since i stopped steroid) . i had a 30minute flush after being in the sun for about 15mins today though.

since you say you have steroid induced rosacea and your face is probably red right now, i dont know if you may have noticed anything. but do you have any broken blood vessels?

after the redness subsided, i noticed a ton of tiny capillaries on where i applied the steroid.

i wish you the best!

Hi All,

 

Has anyone out there had steroid-induced rosacea, and what is the best treatment option? Unfortunately I had minor seb-derm several years ago. My dermatologist first put me on a steroid cream, which she had me using 2x/week indefinitely. She also prescribed me elidel cream 6m ago. She told me I could use it every day, so I did for about a month.

 

A couple months ago I started to get what I thought was seb derm but much much worse than ever before. I now realize that it is steroid-induced rosacea. I'm not 100% sure if the steroids or the elidel caused this? I've heard that elidel is typically used to treat steroid-induced rosacea, but then in other places I've read that elidel can have similar withdrawl symptoms of it's own.

 

So my questions are 1.) Could the elidel be equally responsible? 2.) How do I treat this? I'm assuming my derm will prescribe either elidel or protopic, but given that I'm nervous that elidel could have played a hand in the problem, i'm not sure what to do?

 

Also if anyone has any success stories with this affliction please share them and how you cleared yourself, would be a moral booster. Many thanks!

 

 

hi,

 

i can definitely relate. I've been using cortisone and steroids on my face on and off for years and finally the negative side effects started to show, leaving my chin red all the time, as well as the bridge of my nose and the sides of my face. on my chin/jaw I had scaly, red, itchy skin and nothing would help.

 

I'm currently living in Japan and the dermatologist I went to prescribed me Protopic to use only in the evenings on affected areas.

 

I'm not sure if you have been prescribed protopic or what changes have occurred since you last came on, but I think it's worth it to give protopic a shot for a couple weeks.

 

For me, it has taken some of the itch and the redness away and I'm going to keep using it for another month or so.

 

 

I also read that steroid induced rosacea has to do with bacteria within the body (not sure how true this is) so I've started changing my diet and while I don't know if it's helpful on the skin, it does make you feel better.

 

try eating raw broccoli, spinach, and beans.

 

I also drink a lot of Genmai Cha. it's japanese green tea and roasted brown rice mixed together and is really, really good for skin (so many anti-oxidants that I think are helpful with facial issues). If you can, try ordering it and giving it a shot. it tastes good too.

 

Also, ask your doctor about any medication you can take to fight the rosacea from the inside out and combine it with a topical.

 

I know exactly how you feel but it will go away. In addition to anything your doctor prescribes, fight it as best as you can by eating a very healthy diet and drinking a lot of water. best of luck!

 

I just would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience with steroid induced rosacea. I also have the same problem since that started this year. It all started when a certain dermatology clinic prescribed me with tretinoin for my 2 or 3 acnes last year. The dermatologist told me when my skin became itchy and flaky that its just normal to experience those kind of things so I continued using tretinoin with extra care until I acquired atopic dermatitis according to the other dermatologist that I have talked to. She prescribed me with mometasone cream for my face until such time that I realized that I have been using it for the almost a year without any idea about the side effects. The dermatologist didn't even bother telling me how bad topical corticosteroid if used for a long time. Then I made some research on the internet and realized how bad it is though. So I have changed dermatologist and told me about withdrawing from the aggravating cream so that the flare ups wont be as bad as expected. He also prescribed me with tacrolimus (protopic) ointment and lymecycline for a few weeks. Today is my six week off the offending steroid and I have been using the protopic alone in the evening. Mykin is getting better and the itching isquite under control now im worried about the acne and some bumps on my face. Is it because of the protopic ointment or is it really normal to have those kind of flare ups? I am also planning to use cetaphil moisturizing cream after a week of using the tacrolimus. Your thoughts will be highly appreciated. Take care and god bless.

Hi you guys, I'm not sure if anyone's going to respond to this post but I'll comment anyways because I'm going through the same thing and don't know what to do.

It started out when I was a teen in highschool, I kept breaking out (normal hormonal acne stuff) and I got tired and decided to use a steroid cream on my face. My aunt gave me a steroid cream "Dermovate" and that's when my steroid cream journey began. I've been using that stuff on my face for 4.5 years now. I barely stopped using steroid creams this September and started breaking out in these red-like-pimples. I went to the doctor at my school (since I'm away for college) and he prescribed me a Tretinoin Cream (to use at night), Clindamycin solution (to use in the morning) and doxycyclin pills. I followed the instructions that the doctor gave me for 3 weeks and then stopped using because I was getting flaky and I was dumb enough to think that it wouldn't work.

After I stop using the medication that the doctor prescribed me, the steroid cream withdrawal symptoms started coming back all over again. Again, I was stupid enough and used the steroid cream BUT only on the nose area (Thank god I didn't go for the cheeks)! 2 days later after putting steroid cream on my nose area, I made a wise decision and searched up "steroid cream withdrawal symptoms" and was reading about how bad steroid creams were. Right now, I am currently on "Day 2" without steroid creams.

I just want to ask you guys...

1. What can you do to relieve the steroid cream withdrawal symptoms?

2. What should I expect for the next few weeks after withdrawing from steroid cream?

Please, I hope someone can answer these questions.

you really need to wean from steroid cream slowly or mix Protopic with the small amount of steroid so it cuts it by half. Protopic is the consistency of vasaline and is very pore clogging so be careful where to apply. I have seborrheic derm on the sides of my face and it took weeks to go away using the protopic but it worked. I also mixed it with an anti fungal lotion which helped.