u/Otherwise-Monk1693

I have to give credit to this post for giving me the idea: https://www.reddit.com/r/Perioral_Dermatitis_/comments/1qtcgdv/cured_of_lifelong_perioral_dermatitis_ended_up/

My PD was like 80% cleared from when it was at its worst (and I had it for several years), from various natural and pharmaceutical treatments (you can see it all in my post history). But I still had lingering texture and discoloration, and I could tell that it was *controlled* but not gone and I wanted it to be cured, gone forever.

Then I saw the post I linked above and started looking into H. Pylori and PD, and found a good amount of anecdotal evidence, as well as actual medical studies.

H. Pylori is a bacterial infection of the stomach and small intestine that is frequently passed down in families and causes GI problems like acid reflux, and eventually can lead to ulcers and stomach cancer. It turns out that people being treated for P.D. who get oral antibiotic treatment for H. Pylori at the same time have way higher success rates with treatment than people who just receive topical treatment for P.D. There are also studies of rosacea being cured or greatly improved with H. Pylori treatment…so there's definitely a connection between this particular stomach/gut infection and facial skin (which makes sense, since the mouth and nose are the opening of the upper digestive tract).

I've also been on a low nickel diet* for eczema for the past 6 months (which cured my hand eczema 100%), and funnily enough, H. Pylori relies on dietary nickel to proliferate. Studies show that people on a low nickel diet have higher success rates (>90%) from antibiotic therapy for getting rid of H. Pylori than people who are on regular diets. So that made me a good candidate for treatment to begin with.

I did 14 days of quadruple therapy for H. Pylori. I didn't see much improvement in my skin during the treatment but now it has been 3 weeks since the treatment ended and my skin is CLEAR. No more bumps, no more itching, the discoloration is more or less faded, I can use whatever products on my skin with no irritation whatsoever. It's just gone. I touch my face constantly now because I can't believe how smooth it is.

Typically, you have to go to a doctor and do either a breath or stool test to confirm an infection. I went the independent route and used an online pharmacy to order the antibiotics for myself (in the U.S.…available in most states) because I felt very strongly that H. Pylori treatment was the final boss for me and I didn't want to have to fight with a doctor and insurance etc etc etc to do what I felt was right for my own body.

The only drawback was that by the end of the 14 days of antibiotics (which you take 4 times a day) I was really ready to not take any more pills. It's a lot of pills. But completely worth it in the end.

P.S. I suspect the reason doxycycline is kind of effective for P.D. is that it reduces the H. Pylori while you take it, but then it usually comes back after the antibiotics are stopped. Full H. Pylori treatment requires two separate antibiotics, a proton pump inhibitor to reduce stomach acid, and Pepto Bismol to coat the stomach – they all work together to nuke the bacteria. Doxycycline is related to the antibiotics used for H. Pylori, but it's not very effective and especially not when used on its own.

I encourage anyone with P.D. to consider that they might have a gut infection.

*Foods I avoid on a low nickel diet: chocolate, nuts and seeds, whole grains (refined/white grains are fine because the nickel is in the outer bran), dark leafy greens, beans and legumes.

That's it, that's the post. Try a low nickel diet. About 20% of people have a contact allergy to the heavy metal nickel. Do you react to cheap jewelry or metal contact? Did you have braces and start getting skin problems after that? You might be nickel allergic. If you want to know for sure you can get a patch test at the allergist.

Nickel is also found in food, so when you eat certain foods, it sets off a SYSTEMIC allergic reaction. Avoid the below foods for 4-6 weeks and see if your eczema improves. Nickel allergy is especially associated with eczema on the hands and face.

It might seem restrictive at first glance, but if you like white bread or rice, meat of any kind, certain fruits and vegetables (you should google which ones are low in nickel that aren't on the list here), dairy (all dairy is low in nickel), there are honestly plenty of options. The list here is not exhaustive, so always double check if you're unsure about a food, but this is a good starting point.

High nickel foods to AVOID:

• Chocolate and cocoa (especially dark chocolate and cocoa powder) — among the highest overall, with levels up to 27-30 mg/kg or more in some analyses.
• Oats and oatmeal — very high, e.g., oatmeal often ~80+ μg per cup serving.
• Soy products (soybeans, tofu, soy milk, soy nuts) — consistently top-ranked.
• Legumes/pulses (beans like kidney, pinto, lima, haricot; lentils; chickpeas; peanuts; peas) — dried legumes are particularly high, e.g., pinto or lima beans ~90-100 μg per serving.
• Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, walnuts, pistachios, etc.) — most nuts rank high.
• Whole grains and products (whole wheat, buckwheat, millet, rye, wheat germ, bran; multi-grain items) — higher than refined versions; e.g., wheat germ or oat-based cereals often elevated.
• Seeds (sunflower, sesame, linseed/flax, poppy) — moderate to high.
• Certain other items like spirulina (~300 μg per cup in some data), green tea bags (extremely high in some studies, e.g., 200+ mg/kg), and licorice.
• Seafood (shellfish like shrimp/mussels, some canned fish like tuna/mackerel/herring) often appears in lists due to marine uptake, though levels vary.
• Dried fruits, canned foods (due to processing), and some beverages (tea, coffee, red wine) can contribute notably.
• Nickel is used in the hydrogenaton process, so avoid any hydrogenated oils like soybean, canola, palm, cottonseed, and corn oil in processed foods.
• Avoid drinking plain tap water due to the nickel in water pipes. Drink filtered or bottled spring water. Let water run for a minute or two first thing in the morning before using it for bathing.