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.