Perioral dermatitis questions

January 24, 2013 9:19 AM

I'm newly diagnosed with perioral dermatitis. If you have had this, then I have some questions for you. 1) How did you treat it? 2) Did it go away and stay away, or has it been a recurring problem? 3) Have you found dietary issues to be significant in causing it/helping to clear it up?
posted by HotToddy to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

I had this in 2008. 1) I treated it with a prescription antibiotic foam my dermatologist prescribed. I'm sorry I can't remember what it was called. 2) It has not come back. 3) Dietary issues were not my issue, fluoride was. I can not get ANY toothpaste on my face. For me that was what caused it. Also, I hate to tell you this, but my derm said even with treatment it can take months to go away. If you are a lady, extra moisturizer and mineral make-up covered it fairly well for me.
posted by shmurley at 10:00 AM on January 24, 2013

My daughter had this. It was treated with a combination of Protopic and an antibiotic cream (can't remember which one...topical erythromycin?). It went away after about 2 weeks. It has mostly stayed away but she's had little mini breakouts which we use a little protopic cream on. The pediatric dermatologist didn't know the cause but I also suspected fluoride because it coincided with my daughter starting with flouride rinse. My other theory was artificial colors (from the fluoride rinse and the huge amount of Halloween candy around) but I have no evidence, just a thought. She continues to use fluoride toothpaste with no problems but we have decided to stop the rinse.
posted by biscuits at 10:26 AM on January 24, 2013

I was prescribed Metrogel by my physician, which seemed to help a bit, but the only thing that really improved the rash was to avoid all contact with fluoride and steroids (I tried using a nasal steroid spray for my seasonal allergies=an incredibly bad flare-up of dermatitis within 72 hours). Strangely, the SLS in toothpaste and facial washes doesn't seem to bother me; but a couple of days' exposure to fluoride and it comes raging back. Over the counter, homeopathic Florasone cream was very soothing for me and alleviated a lot of the redness and itching. Good luck!
posted by tanuki.gao at 10:35 AM on January 24, 2013

My issue was toothpaste, but not fluoride. I use toms of Maine, one of the formulations with fluoride-- and the only time the dermatitis comes back is when I use another brand of toothpaste. Crest, Colgate, aqua fresh, Rembrandt, all cause the problem. I haven't been able to chase the ingredient, but Toms with fluoride works for me. It won't cure an already problematic outbreak but it does prevent new ones.
posted by nat at 2:49 PM on January 24, 2013

I had this a few years back. I tried lots of things before seeing a doctor (changing my diet, putting various over the counter creams on it, washing my face with different cleansers, tea-tree oil, etc). Some things helped for a few weeks, but then it would come back. Eventually I saw the doctor and he diagnosed it, and prescribed erythromycin gel. It took about three weeks to go away completely, and then it never came back.
posted by lollusc at 5:49 PM on January 24, 2013

I recently had some dermatitis around my nose, had the burning sensation. I was able to almost completely get rid of it by daily using apple cider vinegar (put it on a cotton swab and wet it first). It took awhile, but it went away after a few weeks. I started with twice a day, but cut down to once. It is a bit drying. It at least made the pain and rash fade and go away.

However, I didn't have to worry about fluoride exposure like your case seems to be. My case appeared to be stress-related. I did this on the advice of my sister, who had the same thing and had not luck with a dermatologist.
posted by greatalleycat at 9:01 PM on January 24, 2013

AHHH, having this was awful. Awful. I also had a patch under each eye. None of the home remedies worked, and I believe I tried them all. I used California Baby Calendula Cream for some instant relief, which cleared it up a tad. But getting rid of it took both Metrogel (topical) and... I believe it was doxycycline? And it took a while. I'm not entirely sure what caused it in the first place.
posted by houseofdanie at 5:10 PM on January 25, 2013