Hi Ronan,
The Restoraderm products worked really well for me. Perhaps, those might be worth a try.
However, recently I stopped washing my face all together. Just water now. Also I made my own lotion that I used. Hoping to have samples packaged soon for the community to try out.
Hope that helps. All the best.
Hi Michael ,
So my update is :
3 months 16 days free of flare ups . Then i got a flare up which i treated with ketoconazole 2% for 3 days(once every night)
Then i got another flare up after 36 days which i treated with the same cream again and it got better right away
For my sculp i continue using ACV with the mother once every week and everything is normal . We will see how it goes. Winter is coming !!!
EDIT: i was also very tired and anxious about some things that happened in my life when the flare ups happened
So the cetaphil products work wonders for my skin. Thank you so much . My life is normal again
HI HopeDiesLast,
Was wondering if you would ever be back. Was hoping that you wouldn’t 
Strange thing there was a comment on here a while back of a lady who also had amazing success with Restoraderm for about a year, then it somehow stopped working. When I read that comment I got a little scared. Even though it never fully stopped working for me, things also got a little shaky and some days the redness was coming back. Basically this led to lots of experimentation and research. In the end I came up with my own solution and have recently wrote about it here:
My Seborrheic Dermatitis Skin Regimen 2.0
Also, if it’s of interest, you can find the draft version of the SD chapter of a book I’m working on here:
All About Seborrheic Dermatitis
Thanks for checking in and updating.
Hope things balance out again.
Hi Michel!
Im 39 y old male. I have the oily kind of seb derm. Im fighting with this 3 Y now.
It mostly on the center of my face. I have flakes, redness and super oilyness. I tried almost everything what you mention.
For my hair selsun blue works totaly. For my forehead cetaphil restoraderm works ok(still oily, but no flakes, and little redness). Biggest problem is the face. Nothing seems to work there. Coal tar shampoo takes the flakes, but its red and always very OILy. My biggest problem is the oilness. After a few ours washing with anything the oil is blowing my face. I have no idea what else can i do. I visited more then 10 doctors with minimal results.
Do you have any ideas?
Thx for the great website
Pete
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the positive feedback.
Currently, I’ve been using a solution I made myself with great results. It’s been around 3 months now and skin has been clear.
You can find more details on it here.
From everything I had done previously, coal tar worked quite well, but skin was always raw and looked relatively unhealthy.
Restoraderm worked well for about a year, but issues returned after constant sun exposure.
Additionally, I believe that understanding the condition is important for long-term treatment.
Currently, working on a book and you can find chapter drafts here:
Hope that helps and look forward to any updates.
Peter, have you tried to drink 1,5 to 2 litres of water every day? This reducesed the oil from my skin alot.
Drink a glass of water once every hour. Don’t drink 2 litres at the same time.
Regards
Håkan
Hey Michael, just want to say a massive thanks for putting together such a comprehensive article on Seb Derm. It’s also nice to see people come together to try and battle this issue rather than do it alone (which is quite a common feeling when you have skin problems).
Backstory on me, had what I believe to be Seb Derm for roughly 5 years. Started as red corners of the nose folds when I was around 19/20, but it never bothered me too much. Around a similar time I started developing more mild to moderate acne which I went to a GP for (I’m from the UK) who prescribed a lot of antibiotics which I took for probably 6 months or more in total - wish I had done more research before taking them. Nothing really changed, so I eventually got referred to a dermatologist who gave me more antibiotics for mild acne and also diagnosed SD / Rosacea on my nose and gave me Ketaconazole, Elidel and some other steroid / immunosuppressants. I have never really believed it to be Rosacea due to age and how it’s only prominent on my nose, but I could be wrong…
By this point I’d started to give up on miracle creams and rarely used any of those aside from the Ketaconazole and it helped very little. Skip forward a year with no improvements, I had to have an operation on my shoulder, more antibiotics from being in hospital and after coming out my SD properly flared up. I got more spots (whiteheads) around my nose and when they popped, it scabbed up and then came 12 months of crusting, scabs and flaking - the most embarrassing point of my life. I got the horrendous build up of ‘scabs’ to slowly stop by using a simple cleanser (Boots Simply Sensitive) and a moisturiser (Cerave). At some points I also noticed slight scaling on the centre of my chest, but this never got worse and a bit of moisturizer / shampoo / ketaconazole stopped this.
3 months later and the redness started increasing without any flaking. The sides of my nose are permanently red and even the tip and bridge of my nose have red ‘blotches’ to them - it’s been like this since early this year. It’s also extremely oily which it never used to be when I had the scabbing. I assume this is still seb derm due to the location…
I’ve tried so many creams (Sebclair, Ducray Kelual DS), so many treatments (honey, dead sea salt, anti-fungal shampoos, zinc noble soap etc.) and even changed my diet like you (3 day water fasts, removing processed foods, low carb, keto, supplementation, omega 3s, avoiding sugar, coconut oil, internal ACV etc.) - I feel like I’m almost out of solutions and my diet at the moment is so restrictive, it’s very hard to live anything resembling a normal life.
Q1) My main question that I’d love to hear your thoughts on, is what can I do to reduce the redness on the sides of my nose? I’m currently thinking of trying Nystatin, but would love to get your opinion.
Q2) Another question is did you ever get tested for deficiencies? I’m fairly sure the issue originates in the gut and this in turn creates inflammation in the skin which leads to dysfunction in the skin barrier and sebum issues. How it all links is hard to piece together, despite reading a LOT of research publications nobody seems to be sure.
Sorry for such a long read, but I personally think it’s nice to get a background into people and see what might have caused their issues and what might have helped to improve them! Also, just saw your new cream formulation and that you’re working on a book, would be great to get some sneak previews…
Thanks again for putting together a great site, will definitely stay around and contribute as much as I can. Would be a waste to let all the knowledge we accumulate go to waste, especially when we can help others!
Jay.
Hi Michael!
Thank you for the positive attitude.
Now im trYing restoraderm on my forehead and it seems ok. On my face im rotating selsun and coal tar and its better. But very strange on my face restoraderm its notworking. Who understands?
Hakan, yes i drink enough but i have never seen any connection with my skin. Anyway thx for you also, and if you have any new idea just write it to me?
Hi Again Peter,
Here is a snippet that relates to reducing sebum production (from the final chapter of the book):
Many factors play into determining the level of sebum our skin produces. The ones that appear to have the clearest impact include:
- Drastic changes in blood sugar levels (high glycemic load)
- Retinoids (Vitamin A) (source)
- Hormones (Androgens, Estrogens IGF and Growth Hormone) (source)
- Dairy consumption (due to affect on IGF production) (source)
To improve blood sugar control you simply need to be more consistent in food portions and intake frequency. Additionally, try not to binge on sugar or overeat as these can cause intense spikes in blood sugar. If you do overeat or binge a little here and there, don't stress about it, it's normal for us to break the rules here and there.
Increasing retinoids may be as simple as eating more Vitamin A containing foods. The best part is the foods may not only help control sebum, but have also been documented to impact the functioning of hormones (source) and overall immune function (source).
Hormones can be a little trickier to control as they may simply be dependent on state of general well-being and other factors potentially outside of your control. One of the best things to keep hormones in-check is to simply try to balance your mental state and levels of stress you associate with everyday life.
The book is almost complete, but still needs lots of proof and editing.
Will send you a link with a preview once the draft of this last chapter is done.
Hope that helps and all the best.
Hi Michael!
2 years ago i finished eating sugar.
I trYed low dose accutane for a year, during accutane the sebum was less, but when i finished it came back(the same level or worse!)
The hormones and stress: i also think could be connention. I dont sleep well(because of my skin), and if you are always tired, you have a lot of pschilogical problem.
Anyway, im waiting for your book!
I already red a few chapter, and its very helpfull!
Hey Jay,
Thanks for the positive feedback. Yeah, I think that a combined effort is the best approach and yeah trying to battle it alone is rather stressful.
Thanks for the story. Yeah, antibiotics appear to play a role for many people. One thing that you must consider though is the gut may not be the only place of infection or issue as many people believe. It’s possible that other areas of the body may be having issues. I really believe that people over focus on the gut, but it is obviously quite an important component of our immune system health. Not sure if you have seen it yet, but I’ve been working on a book on the topic of seborrheic dermatitis and have covered quite a broad amount of related topics. Here are the links to the chapter drafts for reference:
Let me know what you think.
Overall my story is more mild, but shares many similarities. However, currently my skin is really good and actually get lot’s of compliments about my skin. So, it’s definitely possible to not just get rid of it, but completely turn things around. The last chapter of my book goes into more detail on my own approach and should be ready in the next week or so.
In essence, at the core of my approach is stop stressing about diet, eat lot’s of sea-food, not much red meat, lots of carbs (potatoes, apples, bread), lots of vegetables, no more supplements, lot’s of physical activity, hardly any vegetable oils (omega 6), and use my own topical formulation (Biom8).
Q1) Try to reduce vegetable oils in diet. Stop over-stressing things. Try to reduce the amount of products you use at the same time.
Q2) Have got various medical testing, but never deficiencies. However, I believe that eating a well balanced diet full of vegetables and sea-food should reverse any deficiencies without the use of supplements. Over-thinking the gut connection and the issue in general, can obviously cause a lot of stress and this affects hormones, sebum production, and overall immune function.
Consider joining the community. Planning to make it much more interactive in nature so that people can really help each other along. It’s rather difficult for me to handle the large amount of questions coming in through the website.
Hope that helps and let me know if I had missed anything.
Thanks for the reply, Michael.
I’ll be sure to look at the drafts tomorrow at some point - might be worth creating a discussion for the drafts / upcoming book in the community forums for feedback & additional ideas?
Glad to hear you’re getting compliments on your skin now, that truly is a turn around, must be a massive relief to not having something like SD lingering over you. I think the possibility is out there for everyone, it’s just constantly testing things to find out what works I guess. And in reply to your answers…
I avoid pretty much all vegetable oils and focus on extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil for of my oil needs. I also balance my Omega 3s and 6s at about a 1:2 ratio (5g:8g roughly) thanks to eating salmon several times a week, chia seeds and a good fish oil supp.
Interesting, would love to get some pre-testing done, but it’s fairly costly if you do it privately, and trying to convince the NHS to run a lot of tests on you is pretty difficult for a “small skin condition”.
I’ll obviously try and help out where I can as I’m fairly sure I’ve done a lot of research I’ve done will be relevant to questions, but it’s always nicer to hear it from someone who has conquered the condition!
Tempted to try one of the following to reduce redness next, which would be your best recommendation in order of how much they helped take away the inflammation with your SD?
Thanks,
Jay
Second that Mike, only water, with one application of Biom8 at night, and moisturizing cream once every two to three days and your golden. Clean diet’s a given - everyone should be doing that anyway.
#Battlestillrageson
Hi Jay,
In terms of the treatments you specified, the results were very brief and never lasted.
The ACV would probably be my favorite out of the 4. Raw honey was the best thing of out DIY treatments. Sudocream just didn’t clean well enough to make it viable.
Nothing has worked as well as Biom8 at restoring skin tone, skin feel and getting rid of it at the same time.
The Restoraderm made it go away for quite a while, but skin remained sensitive overall. Hope that my results with the Biom8 continue, but user feedback has been reassuring.
The forum has been setup for book discussion, but not much activity yet.
Likely need to make it more visible and integrated into the website.
Hope that helps and let me know how things go.
Hi Michael,
I’ve had a read over the drafts and everything in there so far is really good. A couple of parts could do with more studies to backup the information, but aside from that it’s shaping up great! I’ll go into more detail when I go over it again later this week and I’ll post in the discussion on the forum
Initially trying out Nystatin to see how that compares to other anti-fungals I’ve used previously. My first application (just put it on 5 minutes ago) seems to have gone okay, no stinging or anything, so I’ll see how this progresses over the next couple of weeks. Then I imagine I’ll try ACV and possibly the Restoraderm or Biom8 following that… Fingers crossed I don’t need to take it any further than the Nystatin, only time will tell!
I have been battling Seb Derm most of my life, with the most recent serious bout a few months ago. I tried all kinds of things. Seb Derm is due to an internal condition (sluggish liver or toxic colon), so you can treat it all you want externally; however, the greatest results come from taking care of your digestive system. I drink a glass of green juice first thing every morning (celery or cucumber). I have increased my water intake and I put coconut oil all over my face. I also take zinc and flax oil. My skin seems to be improving, but it can take time…several months…
Hi Gloria
Intresting to read about the cucumber and celery juice. Those are some of the vegetables included in John Vales Clear skin programme which is free for download on the net.
It contains vegetable juices, soups and sallads. I’m going to do this after new year.
Tried coconut a few years ago. It made my face extremely red. I only use luke warm water on my face.
Håkan
I promised myself to stop putting oils to my face, but just had to try borage oil on my eye lids and in between my eyes yesterday.
My skin looked great from the moment I put it on and still does after 20 hours!
If the John Vale Skin Clear programme does not work I will try borage on the rest of my face.
Merry Christmas
Håkan
Hi Gloria,
Thanks for the update. Definitely agree with your comment. However, there appears to be a myriad of other things which can be responsible for SD, with this being potentially only one of them. For example stress, hormonal issues, infection, and some can be extremely unique (one woman’s seborrheic dermatitis was documented to be caused by a Mirena levonorgestrel intrauterine system and resolved completely after its removal, source)
Understanding each individual case is likely the best and most complete approach to long term treatment. However, I do strongly believe that topicals have a significant role to play as well. They allow you to live life, become more social and provide a bit of breathing room while you discover your own issues.
Happy holidays and look forward to hearing how things progress.
Best wishes for the New Year!
Hi Michael!
I wanted to ask you, was your facial skin oily when you had SD?And now, do you use any kind of facial wash cleanser or do you wash your face with water only? My facial skin is oily and I have tried washing my face with water only, but with no results, the dry scales were piling up and the skin was reddish, but I used different facial cream then, Dr. Hauchska ice plant. Maybe the cream was not the one. So, I am basically trying to find a face wash cleanser that is gentle so it won’t dry my skin and at the same time clean the excess sebum. Can you please suggest something? Also I look forward to suggestions from other facial SD sufferers who have oily skin on the face.
Regards,
Sanya