Sarah Vaughter answers questions about OwnDoc products
Forums => Dermarolling / Microneedling => Topic started by: birdsing on May 25, 2012, 10:10:12 AM
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I found this site when I was googling my skin symptoms. I happened to find a thread that represented what is going on with my skin.
This is that thread and there is a picture sort of resembling my skin problems.
http://forums.owndoc.com/dermarolling-microneedling/Newbie-with-severe-skin-issues-please-can-I-have-some-advice
Just like that person wrote, my skin is also deteriorating rapidly and I don't know what to do for it anymore.
My skin is porous, has lines and dents forming on it (perhaps fissures if that makes sense), I feel pricking and slight pangs of pain at times, crawling as if something is running through hairs on my face, eyebrow hairs falling out constantly, tiny tiny bumps sometimes show up that itch (they are so tiny that barely noticeable), I have permanent pink patches of skin on my front cheek area and the sides of my face. The pinkness is not uniform and quite irregular. There used to be lots of small bumps all over my face which was not like any regular acne I've had before and the tiny bumps were only visible in good lighting and angles and more noticeable with make-up on, but now I don't have as many bumps any more or they have flattened out more. Whenever I try to use moisturizer, my skin gets worse and I see more lines and dents forming on my skin. My skin can get extremely oily and I had noticed before my skin problems began, that my skin was getting oilier. My skin appears to have an orange peel texture and the resiliency of cottage cheese in certain areas. I have noticed a slight increased hair growth on my face. I itch a lot under my chin and usually have bumps there. I am only 25 and don't understand what is going on. I have been dealing with facial problems for a full year now.
Here's my background story:
I started out with severely red patches on my skin on my front cheeks and temples. It was horrendous and bumpy inflamed texture in those areas. My forehead didn't have any problems yet but slowly eventually my forehead ended up with the strange texture as well but not the pink skin. And I had all the symptoms slowly arrive that I have described above.
The red skin all faded from dramatic red to pink to where I'm at now which is a light pink. I am not sure if anything I used faded it or it faded on it's own. I am not sure if it was from something I tried....the only thing I was trying at the time when I started seeing any improvement was ketoconazole shampoo on my face and neosorin ointment . When I look close in the mirror I see tons of tiny red dots on my skin or pink/red skin color. I don't know if it's damaged blood vessels or what. My skin has been permanently pink/red in these particular areas. It looks worse when I flush of course but then when my flushing goes down, the pink stains of skin remain. My skin also became very oily.
Dermatologist took a skin scraping because I thought I had a fungal problem but found demodex mites and said he found no evidence of fungus. He called it demodex folliculorum. I've had intense crawling sensations on my face at times and it has moved on to my scalp and body. I didn't think you could FEEL demodex.....can you?? I've had some blood tests done and I've tried to figure out what I could be allergic to and nothing makes sense.
I've moved on to feeling itchy on my legs, crawling sensations on my body, having strange red bumps sometimes show up on my body and itch and then disappear rather quickly, hive like pale bumps show up in the same spots usually on my body which also disappear quickly in untouched, and recently I have been itching on my foot and developed tiny pink patches in two spots where I scratched and some tiny bumps formed in the area. The derm said it looks like nummular eczema.
Anyway, two things seemed to help the redness on my face. Permethrin helped a little. Demodex Solutions Xin Fumangling helps a bit I think and the nightly Zhoungzhoung cream from Demodex Solutions helped with the texture of my skin but I am not sure I'm seeing any improvement with redness with this.
Things that made it worse:
Finacea
Metrogel
And then I tried sodium sulfecetamide and sulfur 5% wash which seemed to almost immediately help my skin and remove redness. It was a little surprising. I wasn't sure if it was just me. But when I continued using it for a few days, bumps and pinkness decreased a lot. I had to stop though because it was overdrying my skin and making it immensely tight and extremely oily perhaps because I was making my skin more dry so my skin was trying to make even more oil because of it. And I was starting to developing tiny itchy bumps.
My most recent symptoms are now involving my body feeling odd as if my nerves or veins or something are giving off pricking sensations or pangs of slight pain. I have been noticing more blue veins on my legs or maybe I just never noticed them before. I had noticed in the past couple months that I had little red cherry angiomas forming on my chest and more on my arms (I have had super tiny cherry angiomas for a while. I had noticed them two or three years ago). Also, I developed keratosis pilaris 3 years ago on the back of my thighs and it has cleared up a bit since then, but I still have bumps here and there and I have recently discovered that I have keratosis pilaris on my arms. It's very slight and I am unsure if I just never noticed them before. I used Lac Hydrin lotion and Clindamycin Phosphate for my keratosis pilaris for a short while and I think that helped clear it up a bit.
Before all my facial problems started,
I had recently ended a long term relationship, had gotten sick and used a ZPack- antibiotic pills a month before facial problems began, had gone to get a spray tan three months before problems began and had spray tans before as well as went to tanning bed about 12 times within the last 3 years, used Bare Miinerals make-up for a couple months before problems began (which I noticed made my face itch and I had started noticing some bumps forming on the sides of my face when I was using it during the winter months along with dry skin), had not moisturized my face much in a year, had used steroid ointment on face a year before for abrasions, had used steroid ointment when i already started having pink/red skin forming on my face in the patches I have now and then stopped because it made my redness worse and irritated my skin, had acid reflux problems on and off the past 4 years, 5 years ago I started an all carb eating habit (mainly pasta) and no meat whatsoever and still do not eat meat but try to cut down on carbs now, and before my pink skin patches turned into a red havoc on my face, I tried sun tanning to get rid of it which didn't really help and also went and had my first and only facial with a glycolic acid component to it I'm not sure if it was a peel or what), and lastly, I had tried DUAC acne gel on my face in a few various spots and an hour after application, my skin was lighter in the areas I had applied the duac and it sort of spanned out a littler further than where I applied....it was the strangest thing and I thought it would go away but it never did and in fact a lightened area on the side of my face still is there between the pink on my cheeks and the pink on my temples....after that, I started noticing gradually that my skin seemed pinker around these lightened areas and then eventually my skin became full blown red and much worse.
I'd like to add that I have been on doxyciline antibiotic for two weeks but had to stop because it was giving me anxiety attacks. I think the bumps on my face went down from it's use. I am unsure if the dents and lines and porous skin began after this antibiotic or not....I do not remember. I noted that tea tree oil helped a lot with the bumps I had. Metrogel made me pinker. Finacea irritated my skin and made it pinker.
Here are photos of my skin when it was somewhat at its worst but starting to die down.
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0121.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0122.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0101.jpg
And here is what my skin looks like with make-up and you can see the strange texture and lines and fissures of my skin.
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=photo5.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=photo1.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=photo6new.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_2704.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_2620.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_2619.jpg
And here is my skin now, without make-up on:
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0908.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0909.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0912.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0914.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0916.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0917.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0919.jpg
http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h479/birdsing/?action=view¤t=IMG_0938.jpg
Please any thoughts, opinions would be greatly appreciated. I have been to many dermatologists and to the doctor and just don't know where to turn anymore. My skin bothers me and hurts more when I wear make-up but I have to or I would frighten people. I am nervous this strange texture is spreading on my face and forehead and soon I will have more strange lines, fissures, and indents everywhere. Please help!
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Hi there,
The only thing that comes to mind, is your hormones. Especially when you mentioned the increase in facial hair, and the increase in oil production
Another thing. Have you been checked for a yeast problem??? You said about going onto a mainly carb diet, that would definitely feed yeast in your system
And also because that Kectonazole (sp?) helped, that is normally for fungal conditions
Just a few things that came to mind.
Have you tried also Essential Fatty acids. They can often help with skin texture, and eczema like conditions.
P.S. Have you ever Been on Accutane, sometimes it can result in strange skin texture from that drug???
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Swan;3605 wrote: Hi there,
The only thing that comes to mind, is your hormones. Especially when you mentioned the increase in facial hair, and the increase in oil production
Another thing. Have you been checked for a yeast problem??? You said about going onto a mainly carb diet, that would definitely feed yeast in your system
And also because that Kectonazole (sp?) helped, that is normally for fungal conditions
Just a few things that came to mind.
Have you tried also Essential Fatty acids. They can often help with skin texture, and eczema like conditions.
P.S. Have you ever Been on Accutane, sometimes it can result in strange skin texture from that drug???
Hi Swan! Thank you so much for your reply. I have never been on Accutane. Prior to my skin problem I wasn't on anything of the sort. Only antibiotics a few times for being sick and two months prior I tried the Zpack instead of regular amoxycillin antibiotic. The thought has crossed my mind that the antibiotic screwed up my system...but also I still find it very odd what happened to my skin's color after trying the DUAC as I mentioned in my post above. I wonder if the DUAC could have caused problems but I don't know how and after only one use to get such odd results still mystifies me.
I have been checked by a GYNO through a yeast culture and it came back negative. Although, I had a problem arise twice or three times within the last 4 months where I had this ball form on my vaginal vulva areas. The gyno said it was nothing to worry about and each ball did go away each time on its own....the balls arose in different areas on my vulva each time and different sizes. It was like a hard ball that i could feel inside my vulva when pressing on the skin. She said it was most likely a sac of fluid that had gathered somehow from the uterus or it was a small cyst that was nothing to worry about.
I have thought that it was fungal also, especially since isn't it hard to moisturize fungal infections? Don't fungal infections usually love moisture? I find it odd that when I try to use moisturizers of any sort, my skin starts to look worse and then feel worse too. The only thing is that the dermatologist took a skin scraping and did not find fungal evidence. Only the demodex mites.
I have not been checked for fungal or yeast problems inside my body though. Is vaginal yeast different from yeast inside the body?
I have not tried Essential Fatty Acids. What is that? Can you give me some advice on that and what I should try??
I've been thinking a hormone problem too especially since that link to that thread I found on here with that woman who had the same problems going on with her skin minus the pink/red skin....and she said she noticed her facial hair had grown a bit more before problems began.
So, if it may be a hormone problem, where do I go? An endocrinologist or OBGYN? Do you know what kind of tests I should demand to find out what's wrong with my hormones?
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EFA's are oils that u take orally such as fish oil, borage oil, or evening primrose oil. I prefer evening primrose oil, cos that has a good impact on women's hormones, plus with the added
benefit of the skin effect
It definitely sounds fungal/yeast issue
Have you considered visiting a naturopath??? That may be a good choice for you
Pls keep us updated, and any more questions I will try to help you okay :)
also, if u r going to try a new product on your skin. test patch it first to see for reaction
i was going to mention trying pure aloe vera on your skin, that is good for bacteria, and doesnt add
oil or moisture to the skin. try a small test patch first.
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There is a great Anti Candida diet, that you could also try if u also suspect yeast issue problem.
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I'm not a nutritionist or doctor but it sounds to me like you have a severe protein deficiency. If all you eat are carbs and you have cut out meat then were are you getting your protein from? Every cell in the body needs plenty of protein to function properly. Without enough protein your body cells can't grow properly. A multivitamin/mineral supplement might also be beneficial. And definitely take an Omega 3 supplement. It keeps the skin cells moist and healthy. Olive oil is good for this too.
I'm vegetarian and make sure I get enough protein by eating lots of beans and taking whey protein powder every day.
Here's a list of some of the symptoms of protein deficiency:
* Edema (swelling)
* Thinning brittle hair and/or hair loss
* Ridges in finger and toe nails
* Skin rashes; dry skin
* Weak and tired
* Muscle soreness and cramps
* Slow healing
* Skin ulcers
* Sleep issues
* Headache
* Nausea
* Fainting
* Depression/anxiety
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Hi Birdsing, I will answer you but your case is very complex and I need more time to think about it. I have looked at your photos and in many of them it looks like you have actually nice skin and the only problem is the redness, brown spots/dots and the bumps. Your pores do not seem to be enlarged. In some of the photos, there are some strange indentations (not in the pores) - these photos are quite enlarged so I am not sure how visible the indentations really are.
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SarahVaughter;3631 wrote: Hi Birdsing, I will answer you but your case is very complex and I need more time to think about it. I have looked at your photos and in many of them it looks like you have actually nice skin and the only problem is the redness, brown spots/dots and the bumps. Your pores do not seem to be enlarged. In some of the photos, there are some strange indentations (not in the pores) - these photos are quite enlarged so I am not sure how visible the indentations really are.
Thank you Sarah I would really appreciate hearing what you think are some possibilities for what's going on.
Well, in person, it is visible that my pores are large and there is often blackheads on my front cheeks and foreheard...lots of them. The indentations you see don't seem to be in the pores? Do they look like rolling scars? The indentations aren't too visible, but are there are many of them. Please let me know what you think. Could this me demodicosis?
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cj123;3625 wrote: I'm not a nutritionist or doctor but it sounds to me like you have a severe protein deficiency. If all you eat are carbs and you have cut out meat then were are you getting your protein from? Every cell in the body needs plenty of protein to function properly. Without enough protein your body cells can't grow properly. A multivitamin/mineral supplement might also be beneficial. And definitely take an Omega 3 supplement. It keeps the skin cells moist and healthy. Olive oil is good for this too.
I'm vegetarian and make sure I get enough protein by eating lots of beans and taking whey protein powder every day.
Here's a list of some of the symptoms of protein deficiency:
* Edema (swelling)
* Thinning brittle hair and/or hair loss
* Ridges in finger and toe nails
* Skin rashes; dry skin
* Weak and tired
* Muscle soreness and cramps
* Slow healing
* Skin ulcers
* Sleep issues
* Headache
* Nausea
* Fainting
* Depression/anxiety
Hi! Well, I eat beans and cheese for protein. I had protein tested in my body and it was normal. I tried fish oil and supplements and didn't see improvement. :(
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Swan;3621 wrote: EFA's are oils that u take orally such as fish oil, borage oil, or evening primrose oil. I prefer evening primrose oil, cos that has a good impact on women's hormones, plus with the added
benefit of the skin effect
It definitely sounds fungal/yeast issue
Have you considered visiting a naturopath??? That may be a good choice for you
Pls keep us updated, and any more questions I will try to help you okay :)
also, if u r going to try a new product on your skin. test patch it first to see for reaction
i was going to mention trying pure aloe vera on your skin, that is good for bacteria, and doesnt add
oil or moisture to the skin. try a small test patch first.
I haven't tried a naturopath yet. I will look into that. I will keep you updated! I've tried aloe vera also. It didn't help and actually is was making hair grow on my face!
Could it really be fungal yeast issue if the dermatologist took a skin scraping and found no fungal spores?
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I too am not a medical doctor, so pls do research on anything I recommend to you
but to me, beans and cheese is not enough protein for your body.
Try and get a recommendation to a GOOD naturopath. Ask around call health food shops and get a good recommendation, or better yet, from a friend or fam member
Eat as healthy as you can, eat enough meat for protein, vegies and fruit etc
i went to see a naturopath a while ago, and did my skin a world of good. I had cystic acne, and still occasionally breakout, but rarely
she had me on supplements to help my bowel and lymph system, and i was eating protein (some form of meat 2 -3 times a day. Did me a world of good
and take this from person who was vegetarian and then went vegan for 12 years, and it wore my health down being so extreme
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http://www.williamsfacialsurgery.com/photogallery/rhinophyma/patient-3
Is it possible this skin texture strangeness and the lines and dents are rhinophyma?? Does it look like it? I seem to have the strange skin adn dents/ lines forming in the same regions as this man on the front cheeks and chin. But I also am having strange skin texture on forehead.
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Sarah, I also wanted to add what you think if this could be some sort of chronic heat rash or prickly heat rash?
When I went to my regular doctor and asked what he thought, he said it looked like prickly heat rash to him. But no dermatologist said that.
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What did the dermatologists say?
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SarahVaughter;3662 wrote: What did the dermatologists say?
First dermatologist said light rosacea with keratosis pilaris, next two said acne rosacea but didn't inspect my face and gave me diagnosis in two seconds, next one said he wasn't sure it looked like some kind of rash but maybe it could be rosacea. He was the one who took a skin scraping and found demodex mites and that's when I was said to have demodex folliculorum. That's where I'm at.
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It is very likely that you do indeed have demodicosis. It is caused by the overpopulation of Demodex mites on the skin. Demodex mites are normally present on the skin of about 20 percent of the population and they are normally harmless. The problem begins when there are too many of them.
Demodex mites love oily skin because they feed on skin sebum, which is an oily substance, produced by the skin. Men are more prone to have Demodex mites because their skin tends to be oilier. You wrote your skin was getting oily prior to the onset of the problems, so that was probably the reason why you got this problem.
Demodicosis looks like a combination of Rosacea + dermatitis + bumps. The skin is inflamed and irritated; you can experience all kinds of sensations (itchiness, pricking etc). Whether you can actually feel the mites crawling: I do not think so but there are all kinds of strange sensations present.
It can take half a year to fully get rid of it with proper treatment.
The skin with serious demodicosis is somewhat compromised and sometimes gets additional infections such as fungal or other.
Look at the photos in this Demodicosis study and tell me whether your skin looked more or less like that. From the photos you had posted, I would say it did.
Demodicosis: A clinicopathological study: http://rosacea-control.com/pdf/sdarticle.pdf
Dermarolling is absolutely not suitable with demodicosis.
Concerning Keratosis Pilaris on your thighs and arms:
http://forums.owndoc.com/dermarolling-microneedling/Keratosis-Pilaris
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The adult, Demodex folliculorum can measure 0.1 mm to 0.4 mm (0.003-0.016 inches) in length and they walk on the skin at a speed of 8-16 centimeters (3.1-6.3 inch) per hour. I start to think that you may actually feel them crawling if you have many.
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SarahVaughter;3684 wrote: It is very likely that you do indeed have demodicosis. It is caused by the overpopulation of Demodex mites on the skin. Demodex mites are normally present on the skin of about 20 percent of the population and they are normally harmless. The problem begins when there are too many of them.
Demodex mites love oily skin because they feed on skin sebum, which is an oily substance, produced by the skin. Men are more prone to have Demodex mites because their skin tends to be oilier. You wrote your skin was getting oily prior to the onset of the problems, so that was probably the reason why you got this problem.
Demodicosis looks like a combination of Rosacea + dermatitis + bumps. The skin is inflamed and irritated; you can experience all kinds of sensations (itchiness, pricking etc). Whether you can actually feel the mites crawling: I do not think so but there are all kinds of strange sensations present.
It can take half a year to fully get rid of it with proper treatment.
The skin with serious demodicosis is somewhat compromised and sometimes gets additional infections such as fungal or other.
Look at the photos in this Demodicosis study and tell me whether your skin looked more or less like that. From the photos you had posted, I would say it did.
Demodicosis: A clinicopathological study: http://rosacea-control.com/pdf/sdarticle.pdf
Dermarolling is absolutely not suitable with demodicosis.
Concerning Keratosis Pilaris on your thighs and arms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a09r8B5h3sc&list=UUWjHev9wbkomYvRBWbG4L-A&index=100&feature=plpp_video
She said it went away through use of oral metronidazole (in her country it is called Trichopol), use of benzyl benzoate ointment (which I have tried to get my dermatologist to prescribe me and he just doesn't for some reason. I am not sure if it's because it isn't available in the US or possible to get a prescription or not but he hasn't said one or the other so I'm not sure whether this is something I can obtain through him), and she said she took Vitamin A (I am not sure how Vitamin A could help with demodex and what vitamin A actually does for the body. I did not want to go the antibiotic pill route to treat my face, but I just feel desperate at this point. I had tried doxyciline antibiotic (which I noticed was in the article you sent listed for one patient as having been treated with it), and I had noticed my bumps were diminishing a bit after two weeks of use, but I had to stop abruptly because I thought I was having trouble breathing from the pills. I'm not sure now if it was my anxiety and if it was my own brain thinking something was wrong or if I was in fact having a reaction...
Unfortunately, I developed a bladder infection the last 3 days and yesterday had to start a course of antibiotics for seven days called Clarithromycin. I am terrified that the antibiotics I have to take to clear the infection will give more breeding ground for these mites to take over if they are in fact my problem. Also, I am unsure as to whether it is healthy or ok for me to start the metronidazole perhaps a few days after I finish the Clarithromycin. I plan to ask my doctor. Before my facial skin problems began a year ago, I had taken a ZPACK antibiotic. I worry that it was the cause of my skin problems.
I am seeing my regular doctor on Monday and want him to test me for everything under the sun so as to rule out any disease or health problems. Do you have any suggestions for some tests or disorders I can suggest to be tested for? I have tested for lyme disease and systemic lupus already. And Vitamin B12 I believe. Vitamin D was tested on me once and it was said to be low and I was not tested for that in my last blood work so I am planning to get tested for it. Please let me know what else you think would be important to get tested for.
I am starting to develop eczema on my body and my skin is itchy. I worry this is a side effect of the mites too.
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As a layperson, I do not think there is a need to be tested for various conditions at the moment. You should be properly treated for Demodex. If that doesn't help, it is time to be tested for other possible causes. I also doubt antibiotics have anything to do with your demodex infestation. Antibiotics kill bacteria, including "friendly" bacteria but I do not think antibiotics can cause oily skin or promote Demodex.
Demodex can for example overpopulate when your immune system is not 100% working, such as due to chronic stress, lack of sleep, fighting other illness etc.
I do not share your opinion that eating so many carbohydrates while not eating protein is a good idea. Carbohydrate-rich foods deliver mainly empty calories so their nutritional value is very poor.
For decades, there has been a crusade against oils and animal fats for being very bad for health and as it turns out now, it has been an immense exaggeration or better to say a complete fabrication. The opposite is the case: It is carbs that are making us fat and unhealthy - not fat.
Try to relax, sleep as much as you can, eat high quality protein, vegetables (raw or cooked or fried - even in butter), salads, nuts and seeds (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, sunflower, pumpkin seeds etc.)
Completely quit soft drinks and sugar and corn syrup in general.
Reduce your intake of carbohydrates (potatoes - especially french fries, rice, pasta and bread - especially the white varieties).
I hope a dietary improvement will assist your immune system in helping the proper treatment for the Demodex along.
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SarahVaughter;3706 wrote: As a layperson, I do not think there is a need to be tested for various conditions at the moment. You should be properly treated for Demodex. If that doesn't help, it is time to be tested for other possible causes. I also doubt antibiotics have anything to do with your demodex infestation. Antibiotics kill bacteria, including "friendly" bacteria but I do not think antibiotics can cause oily skin or promote Demodex.
Demodex can for example overpopulate when your immune system is not 100% working, such as due to chronic stress, lack of sleep, fighting other illness etc.
I do not share your opinion that eating so many carbohydrates while not eating protein is a good idea. Carbohydrate-rich foods deliver mainly empty calories so their nutritional value is very poor.
For decades, there has been a crusade against oils and animal fats for being very bad for health and as it turns out now, it has been an immense exaggeration or better to say a complete fabrication. The opposite is the case: It is carbs that are making us fat and unhealthy - not fat.
Try to relax, sleep as much as you can, eat high quality protein, vegetables (raw or cooked or fried - even in butter), salads, nuts and seeds (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, sunflower, pumpkin seeds etc.)
Completely quit soft drinks and sugar and corn syrup in general.
Reduce your intake of carbohydrates (potatoes - especially french fries, rice, pasta and bread - especially the white varieties).
I hope a dietary improvement will assist your immune system in helping the proper treatment for the Demodex along.
Thank you for replying Sarah! I appreciate all that you wrote. I will definitely change my diet around. I do try to eat beans a lot to get protein. I may add hummus too. I am thinking about adding chicken and start forcing myself to eat at least chicken meat to get some protein. Would that be a good idea? Chicken is the only meat I could tolerate, I think.
Couldn't the immune system not be 100% working due to antibiotics though? I don't think I am that stressed, at least not so much anymore. This leads me to believe I may have some illness or something causing my immune system to be low. I may have been stressed when my problems because 3 months prior my long term relationship had ended.
The doctor just called to tell me that they found e coli bacteria in my urine and apparently this is not uncommon and normal for a urinary tract infection. I find it odd that I got a UTI all of a sudden, my muscles get weak quickly, my blue veins on my body have become more noticeable, I have been developing more cherry angiomas on my body in the last year after my skin problems began, I feel strange pricking pangs on my body that are coming from my nerves or blood vessels I think, I keep getting strange hives out of nowhere that disappear quickly, I've gotten eczema on my foot, my stomach seems upset all the time and makes gurgling sounds, I can eat and eat and hardly feel that full, I end up eating a lot of food, I've gained a little weight, itchy skin, tiny little red bumps that appear and disappear and itch a little, and sometimes it feels like light crawling is happening on my body as if something is running through my hairs. I am also losing a LOT of eyebrow hairs and recently am seeing little white flakes in my eyebrows.
I wonder if Demodex can pose health problems and get into the blood stream. I have read on the net about about how some people think that mites and parasites can eventually get into the blood stream if not eradicated and then start causing illnesses such as lupus.
Or I have something else going on that is creating these symptoms and overpopulated the demodex.
I have had two psychics look at my picture. One was many years ago and she said that I would get kidney problems. Another psychic looked at my picture last Christmas when I was already having my skin problems and said I have liver problems.
Both of these psychics were actually family friends who just happened to see my picture and say something. I did not go searching out a psychic. The psychic who said I have liver problem this past Christmas did not have a clue about my skin problems. I was wearing make-up in the picture.
I will keep you posted on what happens for me after I'm done with the antibiotics I'm on for UTI and get some testing done to check for any illnesses. This will just ease my mind anyway and if I do have some stress, it's because I think I may have some health problem. If I am proven wrong then I will begin to think it's stress.
I want to keep you posted so that if you come across anyone else with problems such as mine, you will be able to help them with any information I can provide.
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Mites and Demodex can not get into the bloodstream, and even if they would, they would very most likely not be able to cause Lupus.
Antibiotics can not impair the immune system, apart from damaging the beneficial bacteria such as gut flora. There are certain antibiotics, rarely used, that can impair the immune system slightly when overused but you very likely have not been given such antibiotics, and discontinuing them will very quickly restore proper immune function.
Psychics are generally not the best source of health-related information.
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"Red skin condition Rosacea could be caused by mite faeces in your pores":
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2196226/Red-skin-condition-rosacea-caused-mite-faeces-pores.html#ixzz284zyFTla
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Any updates on this by any chance? I didn't want to create a new thread because I've been experiencing very similar symptoms since March (aside from the orange skin/peeling). I've been having random shallow linear scars and little pitted scars form on my face, twitching and prickling/biting sensations (I feel these on my hair and eyelashes now too), and the random shallow linear scars and little pitted scars have started forming on my knees, legs, and very slightly on my arms. I've gone to dermatologists about my face (haven't showed them my knees or other body areas) but I'm at my frustration's end. I had a blood test for autoimmune disorders and while I haven't had any physical skin tests yet, the derms I've seen don't think I have anything serious.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
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Unfortunately, Birdsing was only a registered member on our previous forum before we migrated from vBulletin to SMF so I do not know her email and cannot ask her.
What did your dermatologist say it is?
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Unfortunately, Birdsing was only a registered member on our previous forum before we migrated from vBulletin to SMF so I do not know her email and cannot ask her.
What did your dermatologist say it is?
I have not been able to hear a diagnosis from anyone yet. I went to one highly rated derm twice and he said usually random scarring is sign of an autoimmune disorder (in his experience), but I was tested for that and it came back negative. I brought up something spread across the internet and on Acne.org called AMVC (Atrophia maculosa varioliformis cutis), which is supposedly extremely rare skin disease, but it matched to the tee what was happening to my face, but this derm said he'd never heard of it but he looked it up on his phone and said he highly doubted I would have this. I had blood drawn on this first visit just so he could have a lab test done to see if I had any autoimmune disorder. He told me to just give this thing time (he's put me on anti-acne antibiotics for the time being) but it's frustrating because this issue worsens every week. I've stopped checking my face because it's just depressing but I have checked my knees and thigh area and the damage is continuous and consistent with what I've experienced on my face.
In addition, 3 weeks or so after I noticed this random scarring, I started experiencing random twitching and bug/crawling and prickling sensations all over. It started in my legs and spread to my face. I was paranoid that perhaps bugs or some parasite was causing this but this particular derm ruled these out from his experience and from the way my scarring looked. He prescribed me (this was a second visit a month after my first) Ivermectin just in case to kill anything I may have, but a physical skin scraping or the likes was never done. I took the two doses already but have not seen any ceasing of these symptoms.
I'm seeing another derm on Wednesday and then on the 25th I will be going back to this original dermatology office to get a second opinion from another derm who practices there.
I really don't want to subscribe to such belief that I could possibly have a rare skin scarring disease, but my line of hope has run too thin. I've read quite a few accounts of people who have experienced the exact same thing as me (random indented linear scars, prickling sensations on the skin) but were never able to find an end to such horror. Most have run to several derms only to be shooed away, be told the issue is minor, or like me, been given no diagnosis. I've heard of a few lucky people who had skin scrapings done and their derm found that they had an excess of demodex mites....afterwards they were given a few meds which stopped their skin problems for good. But IDK....I've read that aside from scabies, any type of bug or mite can't do physical damage to the skin (e.g. Dents). And likes said I've already taken an antibiotic for such bugs so...it just is very depressing.
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I can imagine how depressing this is for you..
We actually have another very similar story to yours by a forum member Cheeky:
http://forums.owndoc.com/dermarolling-microneedling/newbie-with-severe-skin-issues-please-can-i-have-some-advice/
Her skin also very rapidly deteriorated, without any obvious cause.
Since I realized that the rapid deterioration of the skin can be a serious unidentified skin disorder (of infectious etiology perhaps) and unfortunately, the dermatologists consulted have no idea what it is, I do not recommend any form of dermaneedling in this case.
As much as I would like to help you, I really do not know what it is.
The only thing I would recommend is to visit as many various dermatologists as you can and maybe one of them will guess it right.
Please let us know the results of your quest for a diagnosis.
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Atrophoderma Vermiculata:
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Thanks Sarah. Yeah the problem with my skin isn't what appears to be in that picture. And I have stayed away from dermastamping and do not plan to do it anytime soon. I was just hoping I could get some help here but it seems everyone is as stumped as I am.
Thanks anyways.
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So the derm I went to recommended I go to an allergist after I informed him of all the weird things that have been happening to me, but did a skin scraping for me. He left a message with me today saying that the results came back and that I had no bugs, yeast infections, of anything odd. I'm so frustrated and defeated at this point. I have no idea WTF is causing this madness and it's torn me apart
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The only advice I can think of is to try a broad spectrum antimicrobial agent because in spite of your negative result, you cannot completely exclude infection. Wait for your allergy test and if it is negative and none of your doctors figures out what you have, buy Betadine liquid or Betadine ointment (containing Povidone-iodine).
Povidone-iodine exhibits a broad range of microbicidal activity against bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses. Apply it to the skin and let it work for about half an hour. If it doesn't help after trying it twice, there is no pint doing it more.
There are some antibacterial and antifungal creams for sale OTC. If you are really desperate, try it on the affected skin on the legs.
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Thanks for the tips, Sarah. I wanted to correct that actually the results of only one test (for fungal or yeast infections) came back - the test for bugs, mites, or parasites on another skin sample they took from me has yet to come back. Contrary to most people, I actually hope they find something or else I seriously will lose my mind. There has to be a reason aside from the crazy idea that I do have some extremely rare scarring disease!