Sharing Info. What works for me. What works for you?
I've been dealing with Seb Derm and Rosacea since 2013. I'm not entirely sure what caused these skin issues, but I speculate that stress and certain dietary habits might have influenced the development of these conditions. Up until last year I thought I only had Seb Derm but I'm fairly confident that I also have Rosacea.
Just thought I'd share what works for me, what doesn't work and what I'm unsure on. I understand that skin triggers are often highly individualistic, and what works for me might not work for you, but maybe within these lists you'll find something that you haven't tried before that might work for you.
I'm also looking for feedback. If you see something not listed here that works well for you, let me know. Please be specific as I'd hate to buy the wrong items or use them improperly.
I once used an MCT Oil that was supposed to be C8 and C10 ONLY but I later found out that it had sub 1% C12 in it and it was enough to flare me, so I'm very reluctant to try again with a different brand.
//Diet//
For me, maintaining a strict diet helps keep these conditions under control.
I'm sensitive to histamine, histamine liberators, spices, citrus and coffee so there's a lot of foods I can't eat. I often hear people say "repair the gut, so you can eat those foods." Yeah, I've been trying for years and very often the foods people recommend to "heal my gut" are the problematic foods that flare my skin.
Here's what I typically eat and it's mostly the same foods every day with some variation as far as the vegetables go.
-Rutabaga
-Yam
-Broccoli
-Napa Cabbage
-Eggs from a small family-run farm (no soy or corn in the chicken feed).
-Gluten free oats
-Unsweetened Oat Milk
-Blueberries
-Bison
-I used to eat lots of steak but I cut that out.
-Chicken
-Bok Choy
-Cilantro
-Beef Tallow
-The consumption of sugar doesn't seem to bother me. If I want, I can consume most energy drinks without any kind of trigger. But coffee messes me up bad.
//Things that work for me//
-Head and Shoulders shampoo. Usually once a day, or every other day. But I've gone for up to a month without. I do start to notice small flakes and minor skin irritation eventually. Technically, It should be bad for Seb Derm due to SLS and artificial dyes, but it doesn't seem to bother me. It does make my hair feel a bit straw-like though.
-Vanicream Z-Bar (Pyrithione Zinc 2%), Vanicream Dandruff Shampoo with Pyrithione Zinc 2%, CeraVe Anti-Dandruff Hydrating Shampoo with Pyrithione Zinc 1%. These products all work, but I feel like the Head & Shoulders is better for me.
Technically all of these products have ingredients that cause issues according to https://sezia.co/ but I do need to wash my hair with something other than water.
-The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + Beta Glucan. The ingredients are Seb Derm safe and it doesn't bother my Rosacea. I'm always checking products with https://sezia.co/
-Vanicream Gentle Facial Cleanser. The ingredients are Seb Derm safe and they don't flare my Rosacea either.
-Honey works very well for me. I buy raw, unfiltered, organic. I've also been using 100% Pure Manuka Honey UMF 15. I don't feel like I notice any difference, just a higher price tag. Initially I was applying honey twice per day for 3 hours each time. I work from home so I'm able to get away with it. But I don't tend to leave it on as long anymore and sometimes I'll only use it once per day. Now I'm at the point where I only apply it to specific problem areas as opposed to my entire face. It's great at dealing with flares in your facial hair and around your hairline. But, dealing with the stickiness is kind of annoying. I'd like to find a more flexible alternative at some point so I don't always have to rinse it off if I need to go out somewhere.
-Protopic. I used this pharmaceutical almost exclusively for around 6 years. But I began to experience flu-like symptoms during year 1 and I didn't realize it was a side-effect, I thought I had developed really bad allergies. So because of that I rarely use it at all and for me, honey is just as effective if not moreso.
-Corticosteroid: Lyderm Cream (Flucinonide 0.05%)
-Corticosteroid: Taro-Mometasone 0.1%
*While they were very effective, I stopped using both of these products before they were even finished because I felt like one or both had damaged my skin.
-Direct sunlight. But, too much direct sunlight and heat without any shade breaks can trigger Rosacea flares. These are just red patches and thankfully they don't tend to last longer than an hour.
-Antibiotics. Metronidazole helped with my Rosacea and I believe it also helped my Seb Derm which might explain why you can get a metronidazole topical cream, but it can take 3+ weeks to do anything so I never bothered to buy it. When I first developed these conditions I had a thick layer of yellowish crust on different parts of my face and bright red inflammation that was so irritable. My doctor thought it was a staph infection and gave me Cephalexin and both symptoms cleared up.
-People swear by water fasting so I tried water fasting for 3 days and made sure to use electrolytes. I used LMNT raw unflavored electrolyte drink mix. My face did clear a little bit by day two, but I began to flare by day 3 so I stopped. Might be worth a try for some if you're experiencing an exceptionally bad flare.
-I've tried low caloric vegetable ONLY juice/pulp "fasts" for 4-5 days and I'd notice a difference around day 3.5/4 - but it reverses quickly once I start eating solid foods again. I've also tried adding some fruits, but the last time I tried this I didn't notice any improvement at all. I wouldn't really recommend either, but if water fasting is out of the question, maybe try a sugar-free vegetable juice cleanse. Whip out a blender and try different vegetables like cucumber, celery and spinach.
//Things I'm unsure on//
-Fish Oil. I'm taking 2x vivanaturals triple-strength Omega-3 fish oil pills per day. While I think they help improve my mood, I can't be certain about the skin. I might need to up the dose and see how it goes.
-Vitamin D3 with or without K2. I take 2-4K UI daily every fall and winter and I don't feel like it makes a difference.
-Tea Tree Oil. This product *might* help with Rosacea, but I can't be certain. It may or may not help the Seb Derm. In my case sometimes it can be very difficult to know which product is working for which condition because both conditions share a few overlapping symptoms.
-Anua 10+ Azelaic Acid 10+ Hyaluron. This product could be helping, but I'm not entirely sure.
-The Ordinary 100% Plant-Derived Squalane. This product could be helping, but I'm not entirely sure. It shouldn't feed the Malassezia yeast, and it does give my skin a healthy looking glow, but I'm very careful with how much I use. Less is more. It helps lock in moisturizer. I also do use it for my facial hair to try and soften it up.
-Oregano Oil Pills. I have them but haven't tried it yet.
//Things that didn't seem to have any positive impact or they've been bad for me//
-Burdock Root
-Pau D'Arco (just made me constipated)
-Neem
-Vitamin C 1000mg
-Zinc Picolinate 25 mg (Hard on my digestion)
-Berberine
-Copper
-Bitter Melon (Made my bowels sluggish)
-Biotin
-B-100
-Beef Liver (Screws with my digestion eventually)
-Bone broth. I've never noticed a difference and it's high in histamine which is a no-no for me.
-Fluconazole
-Vitamin A 10,000 UI
-Ivermectin paste applied to my face and ivermectin pills.
-Tanning beds. These do cause some flaring. Whether it's flaring the Seb Derm or Rosacea, I'm not sure. I was trying to boost my vitamin D levels in the winter so this was a bit of an experiment.
-Ketoconazole cream 2%. Absolutely useless for me.
-Elidel. Just as useless as the Ketoconazole. Used it every day for weeks and saw no improvement whatsoever.
-Hypochlorous acid spray. It always causes a minor amount of redness and irritation when I spray it on my face. The minor amount of redness/irritation does go away typically within 5-10 minutes though. I've tried acid spray from two different companies using different PH levels. One being e11ement with a PH of 6.0-7.5 and the other being Honeydew Labs with a PH of 5.5. Really no difference in terms of my skin response.
-Hot showers, Sauna and Steam Rooms. Flares my Rosacea real bad.
-Cold windy weather.
-Facial hair is really bad for Seb Derm and Rosacea. I do currently have a fairly thick circle beard and I have to work really hard to keep the flares away. I do notice a few tiny flakes within the beard every now and then, but they aren't so bad. As long as I apply honey, tea tree oil and I moisturize as best I can under the thick heavy dense hair. But the problem is hair traps heat which creates a humid environment. It also traps sebum, and it shields the yeast from UV light. So if you're gonna grow facial hair, keep it shorter. I also make sure to use a hair dryer on my hair after a shower. I often wear a cap and trapping moisture like that isn't a great idea.
-Probiotics - I feel like these flared me once before. Might have been "Florastor".
I think my biggest weakness is sleep. I don't feel like I get great quality sleep and sometimes I don't sleep as long as I need to. I do get adequate amounts of exercise, but the generation of heat and sweat can also flare these conditions which sucks.
Ok, that's it for now. I'm relatively new here, but I hope that I was able to give someone a few ideas. Let me know what works for you guys and whether you feel I should give it a shot. Details are good. Thanks.