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Epiduo Allergy - Please Help!

MemberMember
1
(@mildacnelady)

Posted : 09/17/2012 8:08 pm

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:

post-184584-0-93054000-1347930462_thumb.

 

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??

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MemberMember
173
(@green-gables)

Posted : 09/17/2012 9:30 pm

You may have seb derm. Google it.

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1
(@mildacnelady)

Posted : 09/17/2012 10:12 pm

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?

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MemberMember
173
(@green-gables)

Posted : 09/17/2012 11:23 pm

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.

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MemberMember
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(@mildacnelady)

Posted : 09/17/2012 11:43 pm

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.

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MemberMember
173
(@green-gables)

Posted : 09/17/2012 11:44 pm

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.

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MemberMember
1
(@mildacnelady)

Posted : 09/18/2012 12:06 am

 

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. :(

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(@ashlynnrae)

Posted : 12/22/2014 11:29 am

My face had an extremely similar reaction! Looks almost identical, it just started two days ago after using Epiduo for three weeks. I had normal reactions like slight burning and peeling then it went wrong. Not totally sure what happened but it looks like what happened to mildacnelady. Sorry if this is a bit late of a comment haha at least I'm not the only one

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40
(@brokenporecelain)

Posted : 10/22/2016 11:33 am

This was years ago..but wondering if you ever fixed this?
Im also wondering if you had any other symptoms like textural changes of your skin and how long it lasted?

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0
(@samirasaaaaf)

Posted : 07/28/2017 10:42 pm

Help me please... it happend for me. I have got swellon cheek now, red and itchy. I called different clinics and the earlier time that i can see a dermatologist is in 5 days! What did u do against the alergic?

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0
(@iiheartdropdead)

Posted : 12/17/2017 11:15 am

On September 18, 2012 at 2:08 AM, mildacnelady said:

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:

photo.JPG

 

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??

 

This is literally me in one ! I can't believe it !! I have always had completely clear skin all my life then went on the Yasmin pill for years I had to come off it due to blurred vision which can end up dangerous and have now suffered with spots for just over a year and they won't go :( I have tried all sorts but recently given Epiduo! Worst mistake of my life putting it on ! My skin has gone very simalar and I have patches where the skin is peeling off I'm trying to sort one thing to end up with 2 ! After the 2nd day of using it my eyes flared up! I have had eczema around my eyes in the past but not for many years !  I didn't put 2 and 2 together !! It began to itch an almost become too sore to even go outside !! I then woke up in the morning an both eyes had swollen right up I went to the pharmacy ( as I can never get a doctors appointment ) 🙁 She thinks I've had a allergic reaction she also told me to take antihistamines and use loads of emollient .. I've found cetraben is a really good one as I've used this on my face and body for many years ..!! Cocunut oil is another good one to use as it doesn't dry up as quickly .. What I'm now going to try is emollient in the day an use cocunut oil for over the night time ! I feel completely depressed I've gone from having extremely clear skin to spots to now eczema and puffy eyes it really does make you feel Poo If anyone can recommend anything else that would be great ! And has anyone else had this problem after coming off the pill and still getting spots over a year after ?? I would appreciate any reply : ) X 

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MemberMember
0
(@jam83)

Posted : 03/31/2018 3:23 am

Hi. I recently went to the dr because of acne and she gave me the Epiduo gel. I had a reaction exactly the same and felt like I look like a leper. My skin went dry itchy and discoloured. I™ve been so miserable with it and went back to the doctor and he believed that I had impetigo! So now I have Fucidin cream to combat that! And it did help. 
After it had cleared up I went back to using the Epiduo gel and had the reaction AGAIN! So in my mind I have definitely had an allergic reaction and do not have impetigo! 
If you have the same reaction stop using Epiduo and ask the dr for Fucidin cream to clear it up. 

DF01DBBC-2AE2-4737-9874-55929C20EA2F.jpeg

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0
(@lilyluey)

Posted : 02/14/2020 11:16 pm

Hi. I have some pretty severe acne on my chest and I've started my epiduo, today is my 6th day using it, and it has made me acne a bit better in a some spots but it is VERY itchy, dry and peely. And whenever I put my moisturizer on, (I'm using cetaphil) it burns like crazy. The picture below is from the 6th day, today. It's crazy red and i've heard some advice to just keep using it and your skin will get used to it. Kinda fed up with the side effects after not even a week and wondering if this will all be worth it in the end. If someone has tips.... that'd be great. image.jpeg.494df0123092454ab1091a08c9a3b2ae.jpeg

It's very dry and itchy, this picture does not do justice to that. Point of this picture is to show how red it is.

 

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