Here is. Progress of the past four days, as you can see the pustules immediately spread and become weeping and leaky. It is so extremely painful the pustules aren’t like typical acne they’re almost hard and tight, and if they pop it burns really bad
Hi guys, thank you all for the responses and sympathy towards my situation! Unfortunately many of the comments are suggesting treatments and diagnosis I’ve already gone through :/ which is frustrating because I too also thought it was impetigo/staph/PD, but my derm said it isn’t any of those… anyways right now I’m trying out the Povidone-iodine in my nostrils and spot treatment on my chin(hence the orange appearance) , except I’m facing an issue that has also occurred in all my past treatments. My chin is so leaky and weeping that the treatment doesn’t even stay on because it starts leaking away from the open wounds…. Does anyone know how to solve this? I used benzoyl peroxide to hopefully dry it out and prevent leaking but it still just slides right off my face… is the best thing to do here to just completely leave it alone and let it leak?
Has anyone used low dose accutane? This is my next step since doxy doesn’t work for me after 6 weeks.
I’ve been really struggling with my skin for about a year. Having (what I thought) acne around my mouth. It has been really tough on my confidence so I went to the dermatologist which diagnosed it as perioral dermatitis and prescribed me antibiotics. My problem now is I don’t know if I really trust her because I feel like she didn’t really take enough time to look at it and said some other things which seemed a bit off to me. Before I start taking the antibiotics I wanted to reach out to this community and see if you can tell me ur opinion?
pleaseee help!! i’ve had POD for about 6 months now, even turned into periocular dermatitis. I’ve literally tried everything. I’m currently using the picrolimus 1% twice a day and the de la cruz mask for 10 min at night. My issue is that my dermatitis is basically all pustuals I don’t have any dry spots.
I got my POD (I think) from using adapalene on wet skin for a month, but I stopped that over 5 months ago!
Things i’ve tried
- 0 therapy
- Metrogel
- ivermectin
- picrolimus
- diaper cream
- topicals clearly mask
- hypochlorus spray
- kate somerville Eradikate sulfur wash
- ripping off my acrylics
- using just dove sensitive soap
- using a non fluoride/SLS toothpaste
hi everyone, i’m dealing with a slight case of perioral dermatitis for the past two weeks. it looks like red dry skin under my nostrils, but the entire left side of my face is also swollen as well, i’m not sure if that has to do with the perioral dermatitis or why it’s swollen, but it’s super uncomfortable. i was prescribed a low dose short 5 day course of prednisone, but im weary as it looks like anything steroid related is bad for perioral dermatitis? Is prednisone a typical treatment for it? Kind of unsure what to do but im in a lot of discomfort and never dealt with this before.
How soon after stopping doxy will perioral dermatitis recur if it’s going to recur? Curious to hear from others’ experiences.
I just been prescribed Zoryve for my perioral dermatitis. anyone had good results with this? My pd is mostly redness, super micro texture skin and mostly burning. I tried metrogel and finacea and both did not work.
***I have been to the dermatologist and family doctor countless times but no one can seem to figure it out.***
***Treatments I’ve been prescribed:***
2% taro fucidic acid creme
Cephalexin 100mg
Doxycycline 100mg
Pimecromolin
Mupirocin
Fucidin
Bactrim
STAPH TEST (Negative results February 10th)
***Symptoms:***
Been dealing with this since late 2023- it wasn’t as bad i had assumed it was just acne (i have always struggled with breakouts and hormonal acne since middle school) but as of 2025 it began becoming unbearable and extremely painful
Comes in waves every couple weeks
Strictly in the chin area, sometimes spreads to philtrum
When the (infection?)is not active, my skin barrier is extremely damaged and has high intense red itchy inflammation
Starts with small itchy pustules that soon turn into large filled clusters and they crust over and start leaking all week. The pus comes out almost a clear yellow colour and it comes on its own terms without my control. Once it dries up they scab over a crystallized yellow color. As of November 26 2025 I’ve been treating it with doxycycline and Pimecrolimus which seems to heal it within a week or, but it still reoccurs every month or so right after healing it. The constant flare ups have resulted in broken blood vessels all over my chin and nostrils. I thought it was possibly reoccurring impetigo but I’ve used mupirocin and fucidin probably 3 times each now and neither have worked, I even had a staph infection swab done yet it came back negative… the clinic said it may be perioral dermatitis but I’ve also received treatment for that which also did not work, I have no clue what’s going on
***Non medical Ways I’ve tried to help:***
Not wearing face makeup as often as possible
Cleaning makeup brushes, replacing makeup items that may have had bacteria on it
Cut out gluten at a point but didn’t have any relief
Lots of water
Cold compress
Icing my face
Warm compress
Cutting out fatty foods which also didn’t do anything
***Skin care I use:***
Non comedogenic cereve lotion
Pimecrolimus
Hylauronic acid
Hypoclourous acid
(I wash my face in the morning with warm water to clear off the crusties and a new cloth \*I never use the same cloth twice\*, and night with just water and a gentle cleanser)
At this point it feels helpless and I’ve lost all self esteem having to go out in public looking like this, I feel disgusting and discouraged that not even medical professionals have been able to help, I mean seriously how long will I be dealing with this? I can’t even cover it up with makeup because it leaks pus and I’d rather not add to the possible infection, I’ve lost so much confidence having to daily tasks even as small as going to work because I can see people staring at my bright red chin and crusty pustules… someone please help I’ve tried every antibiotic (topical and oral) I can think of and yet it still reoccurs monthly.
UPDATE: I’m just now putting the pieces together that it only appears the week before my menstrual cycle… the week leading up to my period I start noticing the pustules form and over the course of the week it becomes full fletched. When I’m not on my period I experience little to no pustules so now I’m wondering if it has something to do with hormones/menstruation. After the pustules clear I work on repairing my skin but by the time my skin is clear it’s time for my next period and the cycle repeats, anybody know what it could mean?
I feel so stuck…Has anybody been able to get rid of this with zero therapy WITHOUT eliminating their fluoride toothpaste? How long did it take for you to see change in a positive way with zero therapy? I’ve been struggling with this for three months and I’m not seeing any sort of positive light. I cannot tolerate any topical treatments, moisturizers, or oral antibiotics and eliminating fluoride really isn’t an option for me right now, so please don’t make any other alternative recommendations for toothpaste. Even distilled water is unbearable for me. Red light therapy made this worse because of the heat being off put by it and I had to discontinue and return my device. First picture is when this started and didn’t have it around my nose yet and second picture is current. This was all brought on by overuse of retinol. It hurts worse now than it did in the beginning.
I saw a doctor one year ago who finally diagnosed my PD which I thought was acne for many years! My triggers are sun / sunscreen / sweat - basically would have a huge breakout after a beach day due to any of these factors. Face makeup was also a huge trigger.
I switched to a simple routine - just skinfix cleanser and illiyoon ceramide cream, no sunscreen basically, or I just apply on my forehead as needed. Absolutely no face makeup but still using eye makeup occasionally and lip gloss. I would still get breakouts but not as bad.
RECENTLY, I swapped out my toothpaste for SLS free, and I also stopped using lip products (just using Aquafor now, no lipsticks or gloss) and the constant redness has gone down... Too early to say, but I actually think stopping lip products has been a huge help. Curious to know what common ingredients in lip products could be triggers?
Hello everybody.!
I've had these bumps ( I'm not sure d they are POD) for about 1 1/2 yrs ... I went to the derm she prescribed me metro cream for a month 2x a day did nothing.. then gave me clindamycin gel 2x a day.. I'm on week 2 did nothing but made it worse??? 😔... I don't know what to do? I have stopped all things and reduced it to water base cleanser moisturizer and sunscreen during the day same at night but no sunscreen. My face is not doing good... should I go cave man? And stop everything?
Hi, can anyone help me? I made an appointment with the dermatologist, but it's taking ages. Are these bumps perioral dermatitis or irritation? I was using tretinoin because I had a lot of acne and blackheads, since I have hormonal acne, and it seems the area around my chin didn't react well to the tretinoin. It doesn't burn or itch, but I paused the tretinoin 2 weeks ago.
I’m so tired of everyone telling me what triggers perioral dermatitis and saying I need to find the trigger. I’ve literally used the zero therapy approach my whole life bc all products use to cause me to break out and my skin looks great using just water. I literally am not using any other products!!! I’m not even using laundry detergent anymore! Yes non fluoride toothpaste. No I don’t have a fungal infection (was tested). I’ve had three rounds of antibiotics. 6 different creams prescribed. And now a month of zero therapy approach. Absolutely nothing is working. NOTHING. I can’t find any answers anywhere of what to do when you have already tried everything, but every single thing I’ve read on Reddit or in articles, I have tried already.
I cannot take this anymore. Truly. I feel like my mental health is taking a hit at this point.
i’ve had this on my chin for about a month now. i’m not able to see a dermatologist. i was being consistent with the de la cruz sulfur cream and then using cicaplast gel. it looked so much better (picture 1) but then yesterday i washed my face and it looked like this (picture 2). i’m wondering if me washing the area is making it irritated? i do use a gentle cleanser. i just want it gone!!! i’ve never had any problems with acne or anything before this and it’s making me go insane.
Have had no skin issues really my entire life. I’m a 28M.
I had my first ever dermatology visit three weeks ago for actually hair loss questions and some moles on my back.
Haven’t even started taking anything for my hair. A few days before my appointment, above my mouth and below my nose I got a red patch with bumps.
FYI, I have a horrible dermatologist. However, I’ve called EVERY SINGLE clinic in network for my healthcare and this was the only one taking patients (go figure).
So a month ago the dermatologist takes a 0.5 second look at my face, says it’s acne, and gives me an acne face wash. I use that for two weeks twice a day, while also continuing my daily skincare routine of some Kiehls products.
All of a sudden two days ago, I really noticed how bad that area was getting. Took me all of 5 minutes researching online to find out I literally have by the definition Perioral Dermatitis. And OF COURSE using acne wash isn’t something you should do, let alone twice a day for three ish weeks. I am so unbelievably upset that all this time I was making it worse.
I am now on day two of going for the “zero” method of just washing with water. I researched a cleanser and moisturizer that people with PD have used with success just to have ready, but I’m only barely using the cleanser right now in the shower. I also got a new sunscreen that people with PD have had success with, haven’t used it yet though.
I now have a follow up dermatology appointment in 4 days from now, and hope this time around I can be serviced correctly.
Here is my current question, I have a trip coming up in a week with a girl I’m dating, and although I know putting anything on the area will not help my situation, I am willing to take that damage to “hide” the redness for two days. I currently am looking at two products being the Hero Cosmetics Rescue Balm Red Correct, or the Bubble Secret Agent Color Correcting Balm. Does anyone that has had PD or any redness type situation that I’m in used either of these? Or maybe have another product they would recommend?
Hello, I’m a 28M having my first outbreak of Perioral Dermatitis above my mouth. It was actually forming for weeks, and when I saw my dermatologist three weeks ago he thought it was an acne patch. So for three weeks I’ve been using an acne wash, and continuing all my products. Two days ago the rash really exploded, and basically from self diagnosing myself through research it’s so easy to now see it’s Perioral Dermatitis which I never knew of before.
I called my dermatologist and have the soonest appointment for four days from now.
Until then, I’ve been doing the “zero therapy” approach by using absolutely nothing. I also researched a cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen that people with persistent PD use and bought them, so I have them on hand, but am not using them.
I’m on day two of washing my face gently just twice a day, morning and night.
Today the entire area is completely enveloped in dry, white flaky skin. Here is my question/concern for right now, should I apply the TINIEST bit of moisturizer to not have it be this dry. Or continue with the zero therapy and just allow the area to flake this bad and be this dry….
hello everyone, I’ve been dealing with this skin issue for 8 years now. it all began when I used a charcoal biore face wash back in 2017. I used to be able to put anything on my skin and wear all sorts of makeup, but unfortunately that all changed. I’ve tried everything from candela cream, cutting out SLS toothpastes, using aquaphor, azaleic acid, ketoconazole cream, dandruff shampoo and my face stays in a constant red patch where you see it in the above pictures. my face is extremely tight and red and dry on the red areas and eventually ends up in peeling flaky skin. a dermatologist said I had rosacea and seb derm but the dandruff shampoos etc clearly haven’t worked. first pic was a week ago when I tried to use ketoconazole again. I stopped it. 2nd picture is using only Vanicream face wash, hypochlorous acid spray, and vanicream moisturizer. 3rd picture is my skin immediately out of the shower after a mid morning run. can anyone please help me so I can clear this face of mine up?!?
Hello, I have been a long-time lurker for 2-4 years. I have simply cured my perioral dermatitis. This is what worked for me. If this doesn't work for you, I am sorry.
Avene Cicilfate Restorative Cream. Apply every time after washing your face. If you are having a really bad flare-up, DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ELSE ON. For the love of your mother, stop trying 6 products at once. Introduce JUST THIS for a month, and I guarantee you will see a huge difference.
For me, at least, less is more. I don't use face wash. I just wash my face with warm water.
FOR GIRLS
WASH THOSE MAKEUP BRUSHES WITH A CLARIFYING SHAMPOO
-For makeup remover, use Pyunkang Yul deep clear cleansing balm. If you don't want to use that use the water proof makeup remover by Garnier Micellar Water. I don't know why, but the pink one used to cause me severe dermatitis flare-ups.
This is literally all I do, and I haven't had a severe breakout since.
Side note: if you have a breakout, have your dermatologist prescribe antibiotics. That cream shit never works right.
Hello! I've had perioral dermatitis (diagnosed by a dermatologist) for almost two years now. Here's everything I have tried so far with no results:
- fusidic acid + betamethasone valerate (corticosteroid) cream for 10 days
- not putting anything on my face for 2 months
- metronidazole cream 3 months
- tacrolimus for 6 weeks
- sulfur mask for 7 days
- azelaic acid, 10% for 4 weeks, and 15% for 2 weeks
- clotrimazole for 2 weeks
- just doing my normal skincare routine using products that don't make my PD worse
Is there anything that worked for you and I haven't tried yet? Should I go to the derm again to ask for oral antibiotics?
Note: My PD is the very dry and irritated skin kind, I don't get pustules.
Edit: Forgot to mention that I also switched to a fluoride-free SLS-free toothpaste for about a year or so.