If you’re here, chances are you’ve recently been diagnosed with perioral dermatitis (PD) or acne conglobata and your skin is freaking out. You may be dealing with a red bumpy rash around your nose and mouth, or worse, an eruption of large cysts and nodules. Congratulations, welcome to the club! Unfortunately PD is a bit of a mystery, and there’s not much information out there. This blog is my attempt to explain what we know so far about PD, as well as share my personal experiences with this frustrating disorder.
Perioral dermatitis is a red papular eruption that occurs around the mouth and sometimes in other facial areas such as the eyes, nose, or forehead. It looks very similar to rosacea but is not caused by the same thing. While rosacea involves visible blood vessels (telangiectasias), PD does not. In addition, rosacea is more common in women over 30 years old; PD can affect both sexes at any age. Finally, rosacea tends to occur in fair skinned individuals of Celtic origin; PD does not discriminate based on skin type or ethnicity.
PD varies widely from patient to patient in terms of its
Perioral Dermatitis is a skin condition that looks like acne, but isn’t. It can crop up around the mouth and in the folds around your nose. Though it’s not totally clear what causes it, it seems to be linked to topical corticosteroids (and steroid inhalers for asthma), which suppress the skin’s barrier function. This makes skin more sensitive to other irritating products—including common acne-fighting ingredients like benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, which are often prescribed for perioral dermatitis.
Perioral Dermatitis by itself isn’t a big deal; it’s just annoying. But there is one potentially scary thing about this condition. It turns out that people who develop perioral dermatitis early in life (in their teens or twenties) tend to go on to develop a condition called Acne Conglobata later on.
Acne Conglobata is a terrible, rare form of acne where huge cysts erupt all over the face and body—and leave behind nasty scars. It’s much worse than regular acne; it can cause disfiguration and psychological damage. The kind of damage that can take years to recover from, if you ever do at all.
So here’s what
For those of you who have experienced perioral dermatitis, you know the pain that it brings. It’s a terrible rash that crops up around your mouth, but can also spread to other parts of the face too, specifically under the nose and on the chin. It’s sometimes mistaken for acne but this isn’t typical acne and is instead a rash. It’s not contagious, but can be very frustrating to deal with.
The exact cause of perioral dermatitis is unknown but there are some things that seem to trigger it such as when you use various skin creams and lotions that contain steroids or antibiotics. The rash can sometimes be brought on by illness and will go away on its own in about two months. However if it is persistent, you’ll need to see a doctor for treatment.
You may not always see perioral dermatitis in young children but it does seem to affect women more often than men, especially between the ages of 18 and 45, although it can happen at any age. If a child does get it then they most likely got it from their mother who has it.
A lot of you might have heard of this skin disorder by the name of “perioral dermatitis”. Well, last year I was affected with this condition and that too at an age of 21 years. That’s when I decided to do a little research on perioral dermatitis and found out that it is more common than I thought.
I had been using an antibiotic cream called metronidazole for quite sometime but it didn’t seem to work much. My skin actually got worse with the use of metronidazole. So, I decided to go online and search for alternative treatments for perioral dermatitis.
The first thing that came up as my search result was that it was caused by the use of steroids, which I had been using for about 2 weeks because my doctor had prescribed it for me in order to treat my acne. But after reading about a lot of people having the same experience of using steroids, I realized that this could be the cause of my problem too!
Perioral Dermatitis is a skin condition that affects the face, especially around the mouth. It looks like red or pink acne, and is sometimes confused with Rosacea.
It can affect anyone but it seems to be more common in young women. The cause is unknown, however many cases have been linked to long term use of topical steroids on the face.
It can be treated with Antibiotics such as Doxycycline and Oritavancin, and other anti-inflammatory drugs such as Sulfur.
Unfortunately the condition can be persistent and may take a long time to clear up, so be prepared for some frustration!
Perioral dermatitis is a common rash that develops around the mouth. It can occur in both children and adults. The rash usually consists of red bumps or papules that may be somewhat scaly. These bumps may also occur on other parts of the face such as the chin, cheeks, or even the forehead (Figures 1 and 2).
Women are affected much more frequently than men. Interestingly, perioral dermatitis is often associated with topical use of steroid creams, although the exact mechanism is not known. This topical steroid-dependence makes treatment challenging, as treatment success often requires complete cessation of topical steroids.
About two years ago, I experienced a quarter-life crisis that left me confused, lost and, most importantly, embarrassed. My skin was a mess.
It started like any normal breakout: a little red bump here and there. I didn’t think much of it at first; after all, I could attribute nearly every pimple on my face to something (too much sugar in my diet; an extra hour or two of sleep; a new shampoo that’s making my hair oily). But as the days went by, the bumps multiplied and spread swiftly across my cheeks and chin. What were once occasional pimples had become full-blown cystic acne.
I tried everything to get rid of the breakout — from changing my diet to adding supplements to my daily routine. Nothing worked. In fact, what started out as a few inflamed bumps quickly transformed into tiny pustules that covered almost every square inch of skin on my face.
I went through several months of trial-and-error — trying different skincare routines and products — until finally, after months of fighting with this stubborn breakout, I decided to see a dermatologist (because really, what did I have to lose?).