I guess that goes to show that sometimes you have to start digging around the internet for solutions when your own dermatologist can’t do his job! I’ve read countless times that the prolonged application of hydrocortisone is a bad idea, so that doesn’t give me a whole lot of faith in your dermatologist, I’m afraid. Tell him that it doesn’t work and that you want an alternative.
I’m happy to hear that the sea water treatment is working out for you. It’s such a relief to make some progress. I also recommend going to Palawan to get the full-on sun & saltwater treatment! That cured me while I was there
I haven’t hear about DermaZinc but it sounds like something that might work. I guess it has zinc pyrithione like my shampoo and head&shoulders. Generally, I’ve heard good things about that, but for me it didn’t change my face, and my scalp wasn’t really cured until I started using nystatin on my face: Only then did I get rid of the whole thing - it’s sort of weird actually.
I never tried exfoliants, so I’m not sure about it, but I had bad experiences trying to cleanse my way out of the flare-ups. It might just give the Malassezia yeast more room or better conditions, I’m not sure - but it probably wont kill it like your aiming for. Unfortunately.
But if both things are over the counter you might as well try them out. I had to go through a lot of trial and error, but it seems that a lot of people find different solutions, so DermaZinc or BHA might be it for you. I just recommend nystatin, since that worked for me. Other anti-fungals might work to the same extent, so if you cant find nystatin specifically, it might be worth giving something like sertaconazole or miconazole a shot. But now we’re getting to that part again, where I’m passing medical advice like I’m a doctor - which I’m not. I haven’t had experience with sertaconazole or miconazole, but desperate times calls for desperate measures. At least they’re some alternatives that you can discuss with your dermatologist.
Hi Anna,
The DermaZinc is essentially the same as Head and Shoulders. Previously I have tried similar products from Noble Formula (tried the bar soap and the cream), it’s basically identical to the DermaZinc and sold on Amazon as well. My results were mixed. It worked really well at first. For 3-4 weeks my face was totally clear. Then it just seemed to stop doing it’s job. Also it made the skin quite a bit less healthy looking in general and quite sensitive to the sun. The reviews on Amazon for this stuff are fantastic though and based on those lot’s of people find success with it (there are also some who describe same experience as me).
As for make up I have no idea since I’m a male. What I remember reading though, was that some women had great results with make up that contained UV protection. It is common to use zinc oxide as a UV protecting agent in skincare products. And zinc seems to actually benefit in reducing the SD.
Just so you know. I’ve been religiously washing the affected areas (jaw area) with sea salt and have been applying KETOCONAZOLE which my doctor says is the generic name for NYSTATIN. I don’t know if this is true though.
So far, the salt wash has helped tremendously in reducing the swelling / flare up. I just started Ketaconozole yesterday so let’s see what happens.
Glad to hear your seeing some improvements.
Hopefully the Ketoconozole will help as well.
Strange that the doc said that they are the same as they are actually different.
For example here is a study that compares the two: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3905986
They are both anti-fungals and serve a similar purpose. Ketoconozole is actually the active ingredient in Nizoral dandruff shampoo. Here in Canada it is sold over the counter without any prescription. The shampoo didn’t work out for me as it was really harsh on the skin. However, I’ve read some people have great success with it.
Would be interesting to hear about your experience with it.
Hi, Could you upload photo of your cream facts? In my country this is of course prescription drug but there are many nystatin creams with different bases. As you wrote in another post seb derm like oils so what should be the base of cream to do not feed seb derm?
Sometimes I read in Internet about cream with Sulfacetamide 10% and sulfur 5% whitch helps a lot in seb derm and rosacea, Did you heard about it?
Thanks for sharing your battle with SD. What symptoms did you have on your face? Was it red inflamed skin or more mild flaking only? What areas were affected?
Hi Maciej,
I can’t find a photo that shows the facts, and the only websites I can find are in German, but I’ll translate:
“1 g creme contains as the active ingredient: 100.000 IE Nystatin corresponding to 22,73 mg dry-matter.
Other Ingredients: Macrogol stearat 1000 [a different name for polyethylene glycol], cetostearyl alcohol, isopropyl myristate, glycerol 85%, sorbic acid (E200), lactic acid (E270), sodium hydroxide, purified water.”
But this is not meant as a moisturizer. The point of nystatin is not to avoid feeding the malassezia yeast, it is to use an anti-fungal to kill the yeast, so you don’t have to worry about moisturizing. I don’t know why the first anti-fungal I tried didn’t work (specifically miconazole combined with hydrocortisone in a creme). I read somewhere on wikipedia that their ways of killing the yeast are different. The azoles are lanosterol 14
alpha-demethylase inhibitors, while nystatin works by ergosterol binding - it has to do with their cell membranes. Anyhow, the details are not important to us, the important thing to learn from this is that “anti-fungal” is a broad term and it would be a mistake to think no anti-fungal will work simply because one didn’t. So try another angle of attack
Personally I haven’t heard of sulfacetamide 10% and sulfur 5% or tried it on myself, but wikipedia says it is a suggested treatment. Maybe Michael has some experience with it?
Hi Vincent,
it was the double-trouble of both flaking and red, inflamed skin. During flareups it would also itch to some extent. I had spots of it on my scalp, my forehead, the skin under and close to my eyebrows, the sides of my nose and parts of my cheeks and throat when it got really bad. I also had a small area of it on my chest, similar to where Superman would have his logo or where Ironman has his power-core thingy, although I didn’t feel very super at the time
As I recall the shampoo alone got the inflammation on my scalp down. It would still flake, but the skin didn’t look red at least. But by just using the nystatin creme on my face it cleared up the rest of the flaking from my scalp (while still using the shampoo) and the area on my chest as well. To me that’s almost the most impressive thing.
What have you tried so far?
I have tried many natural remedies and prescription drugs. Currently, I’m on 1% ciclopirox. I don’t have flaking, just red inflamed skin on my chin and nasal folds. 2 dermatologists have said it is seb derm. However, nothing has healed the face redness as of yet.
Joakim - How long did you use the Nystatin before you saw improvement with the redness? And how long until you experienced complete remission of the skin redness?
Not sure, but I believe I remembers stumbling upon the sulfacetmatide and sulfur products. Think I found them when I was looking for a Lotramin Ultra alternative for the face.
Personally I never ended up ordering any of the sulfacetmatide and sulfur products because I couldn’t find enough safety information. Also the main place to buy it was eBay (no listings on Amazon), so I wasn’t sure how the product was regulated/produced.
Thanks a lot for answer. I have friend whos working in pharmacy and he could make me cream because in PL we dont have nystatin cream - nystatin is only in form granules and infusion. Unfortunately components from your cream arent avalible in pharmacys (only in larger production) but I hope that friend use good components - I told him to avoid from using oils.
I don’t understand second part of your post: “But this is not meant as a moisturizer. The point of nystatin is not to avoid feeding the malassezia yeast, it is to use an anti-fungal to kill the yeast, so you don’t have to worry about moisturizing.” Cound you write more clearly? My english is quite bad sorry.
If I recall correctly I started using nystatin around December 8th and by Christmas Eve it was gone. I think I started seeing improvements after the first week or so. It was a pretty fast process of recovery, actually. I used it daily at the time. Now, I tend to forget 2 days a week or so, but in the beginning I was on point!
My dermatologist sounded very confident when he prescribed me the stuff. He was like “Try this and I bet you’ll see improvements by the end of week the. Otherwise come see me again.” Now I wonder what he would have done, had I come back. Maybe he was just reassuring me, and he knew I wouldn’t come back.
I’d recommend you trying it if you have the possibility. I also tried other anti-fungals that didn’t do it for me. I think ciclopirox and nystatin work differently, so there’s hope!
Hi Maciej,
I found a website that looks like it sends nystatin to most European countries - including Poland. Otherwise, it’s an over-the-counter drug in Germany, so if you go to Germany you can buy it without a prescription from your doctor. Anyway, here is the website if your friend cannot help you make it: http://www.apons.eu/nystatin-lederle-creme
The point I was trying to make is this: With nystatin you are killing the SD. The reason we should avoid oils is that we don’t want to feed the SD, but when we have already killed it then it doesn’t matter with the oils.
I have completely stopped using moisturizers since I got nystatin. I don’t get dry, red skin anymore so there is no need to moisturize (with or without the oils). I hope that makes more sense - otherwise just ask again if there is something you want me to explain better
Hi Joakim,
Thank you very much:) I wrote to few eshops from Germany about ordering nystatin cream - we will see what they answer about buying from Polnad. Anyway thanks again for help.
Now I understand you You give me a hope to cure for this terrible disease!
I am happy to help! But before I get your hopes up, I’d just like to clarify something: If this works for you it probably doesn’t mean that you will be cured. I don’t consider myself cured - not totally. I think SD comes from a problem in our immune systems; Everybody has the SD yeast on their skin, but most people can fight it naturally through their immune system. But we have some defect that can’t handle the SD yeast. So we need some help, and that help can be nystatin or ketoconazole or green tea or whatever works for people. But I think we will always have that defect, so we have to keep treating it - unfortunately.
So maybe we will never really be cured, but so far - after I started using nystatin - I look cured, and I guess that’s the most important thing
Thanks for sharing your story with us, i have SD(seborrheic dermatitis ) 10 years now and i have tried almost everything to control it. What i found to be effective was keep washing my face once daily(at night usually) with a no-soap cleanser which doesn’t dry my skin applying aloe vera moisturizer when my skin looks dry and when a rush appears using once daily ketoconazole cream(fungoral is the brand’s name) for 7 days. The first 1-2 days my skin reacts and doesn’t like it but then at day 2 or 3 it calms down and you couldnt tell i had a rush there.I also save every second day because if i dont my skin becomes flaky , and i apply fresh aloe vera from the plant to me face whenever i can.For my scalp i am using a shampoo that doesnt dry my skin out and ACV remedy some days per week.
I am interested on what you suggested (Nystatin cream) because i believe we should check all of our options and i am currently trying to find alternatives that work better than the solutions i’ve already found.
My questions are :
how many times per day and how many days in a row did you apply the Nystatin cream)?
what is your maintenance routine after you controlled SD?
what other things are you doing in order to help your SD not coming back?
Thank you MICHAEL for this beautiful site and i am looking forward to your answear joakim
HopeDiesLast
Quick tip for females: I have SD redness & flaking on nasal folds and chin and have found Bare Minerals Bisque Concealer the only thing that blends well and does not make the flakiness worse.
The pigment content is high - I use the version without sunscreen. You need to use a brush to blend it in but it works very well on spots too.
Thank you for the positive comment. Glad to hear you found a way to partially control it.
Hopefully Joakim can provide you will some more details.
Similar to you I only wash my face once a day in the evening and always with cold water.
What cleanser are you currently using as a daily wash? (question was answered in another comment, HopeDiestLast uses La Roche Posay Toleriane).
Thank you for leaving the tip. This will likely benefit any female readers stumbling through this site.
Out of curiosity have you ever tried using the one with the sunscreen?
Much of the information I have come across suggests the zinc oxide found in the majority of sunscreens can actually help combat it as well.
