u/BallsForShenron

I’ve suffered from periocular dermatitis for three years now, consistently flaring every winter. This year it decided to go year round. I got my first ever summer outbreak in 2026.

Nothing worked. Pimecrolimus and tacrolimus actually made it worse, with rebound flares after stopping. I tried cutting out all skin creams and applications entirely, getting sun exposure, using a light plain moisturizer just to support the skin barrier, and even drying it out with no creams at all to see if the rash would resolve on its own. I tried metronidazole. I tried glycolic acid. Basically everything.

The only thing that ever worked, even temporarily, was oral doxycycline. But I don’t like taking antibiotics, especially not repeatedly, and especially not in summer.

So last week I had an idea. What if I applied it topically instead of taking it orally?

I crushed one 100mg doxycycline pill (hyclate, which is water soluble) and dissolved it in about 2ml of water. I then mixed that into roughly 10ml of La Roche Posay Double Repair moisturizer until it was evenly incorporated. I patch tested it on the inside of my arm overnight first. No reaction.

I started applying the mixture around my eyes. Within two days, the rash was almost completely gone. No harsh side effects, and most notably, no rebound flare like I got with the pimecrolimus. Would be hard to tell in this short period of time, even if I quit entirely. But worth noting it doesn’t feel as harsh as either of the limus creams.

It’s hard not to feel a little cynical about this. I spent months on pimecrolimus and tacrolimus, creams that cost hundreds of dollars and require months of continuous use, and in my case made things worse with rebound flares. Meanwhile a cheap, off-label idea I put together myself gave me results in two days. Makes you wonder why the expensive, slow-working option is always what gets pushed as the standard path.

Honestly, this has been the most effective thing I’ve tried for this so far.

Notes to self:

Some of the clearing could be a mix of the doxycycline or coincidental timing with other changes (sun exposure, stopping other creams). Can’t fully separate variables.

Concentration was a rough estimate, not precise.

There’s apparently a pustular/eczema variant of this condition worth reading up on to see if that’s actually what I have.

Want to bring this up with my dermatologist to see if there’s a real version of this (like the NanoDOX trials) or a safer way to formulate it.

I’ve suffered from periocular dermatitis for three years now, consistently flaring every winter. This year it decided to go year round. I got my first ever summer outbreak in 2026.

Nothing worked. Pimecrolimus and tacrolimus actually made it worse, with rebound flares after stopping. I tried cutting out all skin creams and applications entirely, getting sun exposure, using a light plain moisturizer just to support the skin barrier, and even drying it out with no creams at all to see if the rash would resolve on its own. I tried metronidazole. I tried glycolic acid. Basically everything.

The only thing that ever worked, even temporarily, was oral doxycycline. But I don’t like taking antibiotics, especially not repeatedly, and especially not in summer.

So last week I had an idea. What if I applied it topically instead of taking it orally?

I crushed one 100mg doxycycline pill (hyclate, which is water soluble) and dissolved it in about 2ml of water. I then mixed that into roughly 10ml of La Roche Posay Double Repair moisturizer until it was evenly incorporated. I patch tested it on the inside of my arm overnight first. No reaction.

I started applying the mixture around my eyes. Within two days, the rash was almost completely gone. No harsh side effects, and most notably, no rebound flare like I got with the pimecrolimus. Would be hard to tell in this short period of time, even if I quit entirely. But worth noting it doesn’t feel as harsh as either of the limus creams.

It’s hard not to feel a little cynical about this. I spent months on pimecrolimus and tacrolimus, creams that cost hundreds of dollars and require months of continuous use, and in my case made things worse with rebound flares. Meanwhile a cheap, off-label idea I put together myself gave me results in two days. Makes you wonder why the expensive, slow-working option is always what gets pushed as the standard path.

Honestly, this has been the most effective thing I’ve tried for this so far.

Notes to self:

Some of the clearing could be a mix of the doxycycline or coincidental timing with other changes (sun exposure, stopping other creams). Can’t fully separate variables.

Concentration was a rough estimate, not precise.

There’s apparently a pustular/eczema variant of this condition worth reading up on to see if that’s actually what I have.

Want to bring this up with my dermatologist to see if there’s a real version of this (like the NanoDOX trials) or a safer way to formulate it.

I’ve suffered from periocular dermatitis for three years now, consistently flaring every winter. This year it decided to go year round. I got my first ever summer outbreak in 2026.

Nothing worked. Pimecrolimus and tacrolimus actually made it worse, with rebound flares after stopping. I tried cutting out all skin creams and applications entirely, getting sun exposure, using a light plain moisturizer just to support the skin barrier, and even drying it out with no creams at all to see if the rash would resolve on its own. I tried metronidazole. I tried glycolic acid. Basically everything.

The only thing that ever worked, even temporarily, was oral doxycycline. But I don’t like taking antibiotics, especially not repeatedly, and especially not in summer.

So last week I had an idea. What if I applied it topically instead of taking it orally?

I crushed one 100mg doxycycline pill (hyclate, which is water soluble) and dissolved it in about 2ml of water. I then mixed that into roughly 10ml of La Roche Posay Double Repair moisturizer until it was evenly incorporated. I patch tested it on the inside of my arm overnight first. No reaction.

I started applying the mixture around my eyes. Within two days, the rash was almost completely gone. No harsh side effects, and most notably, no rebound flare like I got with the pimecrolimus. Would be hard to tell in this short period of time, even if I quit entirely. But worth noting it doesn’t feel as harsh as either of the limus creams.

It’s hard not to feel a little cynical about this. I spent months on pimecrolimus and tacrolimus, creams that cost hundreds of dollars and require months of continuous use, and in my case made things worse with rebound flares. Meanwhile a cheap, off-label idea I put together myself gave me results in two days. Makes you wonder why the expensive, slow-working option is always what gets pushed as the standard path.

Honestly, this has been the most effective thing I’ve tried for this so far.

Notes to self:

Some of the clearing could be a mix of the doxycycline or coincidental timing with other changes (sun exposure, stopping other creams). Can’t fully separate variables.

Concentration was a rough estimate, not precise.

There’s apparently a pustular/eczema variant of this condition worth reading up on to see if that’s actually what I have.

Want to bring this up with my dermatologist to see if there’s a real version of this (like the NanoDOX trials) or a safer way to formulate it.