Calendula for Perioral Dermatitis

My 4 year old went to a birthday party and wore an adhesive mustache on his face for a while. It was surprising hard to peel off when he was tired of it. Unfortunately, it had a terrible effect on his skin. Initially the spot where the adhesive had been was red and irritated. And then it got worse instead of better. I tried several different remedies with some success but the rash continued to come back.

I made some calendula oil (recipe in the article on this page) and added some beeswax to make it into a salve. (I melted 1/2 Tablespoon of beeswax pastilles into 2 ounces of the finished calendula oil.) The calendula salve or oil would also be wonderful for chapped lips.

This oil smells wonderful!! I applied the oil to his face before bed and in the morning the rash was 95% better!

I have long loved calendula for its healing properties and keep the herb on hand for salve making. This was the first time I made a salve just with calendula.

~Mama to Many~

For the past 6 weeks I've tried all kinds of remedies. I've tried ACV and coconut oil-both internally and topically. I've only eaten yogurt, fruits, and vegetables. I've been using fluoride free toothpaste (and more recently only baking soda and water. ) I've made sure to use only sulfate free shampoos and soaps. My POD seemed to be getting better but then was getting much worse and was now painful, super red, and very itchy. I then tried Greek yogurt masks and that too would make it more red, flaky, and itchy. I slept in Greek yogurt but my skin felt more irritated. Finally I tried Calendula cream and now my POD is 99% healed and gone and I've used the cream for about 5 days. I'm so impressed!

I wash my face in the evening with the soap then put on a yogurt mask for 15-30 minutes. I then wash that off with a 50/50 water and ACV mix. Then I sleep in the Calendula cream. I could see a radical difference the first night I used it. The redness was noticeably changed, flakiness was diminished and my scars looked faded. In the morning, I just rinse my face and then after shower splash my face with 50/50 water and ACV. I apply Calendula again before putting on light foundation.

I'm not certain that the ACV and yogurt has done much for me but I'm using them for good measure. However, I AM certain that my face wouldn't be healing like it it without the Calendula cream. I'm so relieved to have found something that not only is curing my POD but also gives my skin a healthy glow! I'm going to continue to use Calendula long after my POD is gone.

Then, unwilling to go to the Dr. for antibiotics unless absolutely everything else failed I began my research and experimentation. Aloe Vera juice, Aloe Vera gel and raw Aloe Vera, fresh from a plant cutting, did nothing at all. Tea tree oil really didn't either. Almond oil, Coconut oil, Rose water, pure Glycerin, Green Tea, Vaseline, antibiotic ointment, pure Vitamin E, Shea butter, Oatmeal mask, Epsom salt, Zinc cream, an all natural version of Vicks, raw Honey and Ghee all disappointed me for one reason or another. Either the rash calmed down and yet still spread or it looked angry, red and raised or it dried everything out and made the burning, itching and tingling unbearable. ACV burned and stunk but of everything I tried it made the most difference progression wise. But though not spreading the rash looked no better. Then I tried Lavender oil. This did more than the ACV and smelled a lot better. But the rash still hung on, sometimes looking nearly gone, sometimes looking like it was around for the long haul.

Near the end of all this trial and error I was getting desperate and depressed. And beside the pain of the rash and the unsightliness of the rash, my skin didn't even feel like skin anymore. I was so tempted to just see a Dermatologist and be done with it. But the reason for my crazy, restrictive diet is Leaky Gut and long term antibiotic use is the last thing my system needs. Then a dear friend passed away and I spent the good part of a week in tears and apparently that is one of the worst things for PD. Or at least for mine. The rash turned not only more red but raw and started spreading with a venegance. All the moisture, I think. I could barely smile and forget contacts or makeup or lavender oil or even washing my face. Everything hurt. I got some organic yogurt and put that on my face. It felt wonderful and calmed things down somewhat but the skin was still tight, scaly and horrible looking. My 5 year old told me she was sorry about my rash like 20 times a day. Which was sweet. But I think it hurt her to look at my face. Then I tried the last possible thing I could think of. (And if it didn't work I'm not sure what in the world I was planning to do...) A homeopathic cream made of only Arnica Montana and Calendula. (Which is used for the treatment of sore muscles, bruises, sprains and plastic surgery. It reduces pain, swelling and inflammation. ) And it was the God-send I had been praying for. It felt so soothing to spread on. I must admit that after all I'd been I was skeptical. Especially when it didn't even really absorb. (Because my skin was so distressed and damaged, I think. ) But come morning the redness was greatly diminished, the puffiness and tightness was gone and the scaliness vastly improved. My skin felt like skin!! And from that point, though it's still early days, things have gotten better. So now that my face has calmed down I am back to washing it. (I use Borax dissolved in warm water... No scrubbing... ) and wiping it down, lightly and gently, with a very diluted Lavender oil/distilled water solution on a cotton pad. Then I use the Arnica Montana and Calendula cream. The PD around my mouth is gone. Just a few flakes. And the stuff around my eyes is much, much lighter in color and smaller. And it is no longer raised. I am very hopeful. And the best part is I did it naturally.

After the birth of my second child, I developed some strange spots under my right eye that were not healing. I decided it was some kind of ezema and remembered I had a tube of steroid cream from six years earlier that had been prescribed for a dermatitis patch on my leg. It worked brilliantly but the spots returned a few weeks later. I got into a cycle of dabbing on the steroid to clear them only to have to reapply a week or two later.

After a few months, I had shown the doctor the problem who said it was periorbital dermatitis and gave me a weaker steroid cream (apparently the leg one was too strong for the face). The weaker cream only made it worse, so I switched back to the stronger one. Back to the cycle.

A year later, the spots were now occuring around my mouth, all over my chin and around my nostrils. I had the doc refer me to a specialist, who couldn't see me for six months. So I researched everything I could find on ezema as that's what my sister had and these things run in families right? I had no luck pinning down what I had.

Finally, about two months before my specialist appointment, I came across a forum post mentioning perioral dermatitis. That rang bells as I remembered the doc originally diagnoising me with periorbital dematitis. Bingo! It was so obvious once I knew what to research.

So now I had a diagnosis that I was confident with, I read up on what I could do to help myself before I let the specialist treat me with a couple months of antibiotics (standard medical treatment).

One: Found out that the steroids were the worst possible thing I could do. Stop immediately. Suffer through the withdrawal flare. So painful and embarassing.

Two. Stop using all soaps, shampoos etc with SLS, stop with my regular moisteriser and make-up. Replaced regular soap with lovely scrummy all-natural goats milk soap.

Three: Tried dabbing apple cider vinegar on the rash. Disaster - painful and drying.

Four: Coat my face in baby diaper cream before bed. Messy and no effect.

Five: Bought a tube of calendula cream and a tube of high-strength zinc cream for treating fungal diaper rashes and rubbed a minimal amount of both in morning and night. Success!

By the time I saw the specialist I was about 90% cured. She insisted that the antibiotics were the only true cure but I decided to continue with my regime. I found the missing ingredient was to totally discontinue ALL soap on my face, even the lovely SLS-free goat soap.

I am now cured with the occaisonal spot if I accidently get some kind of soap or hair product on my face (e.g. , automatically using the soap in public toilets to wash my hands and then accidently touching face later on).

It also really helped to totally rub the creams into the face. The zinc cream is white but if you really rub it into the skin, it disappears.

Also, I found that make-up was fine. Some days I just had to cover up the unsightly rash and perversely it seemed to have improved the next day. I figured that I was touching the rash less when I was wearing concealer and that's what might have helped settle it down.

I then came across a great article on line about the natural ingredient calendula and how amazing it can be for eczema and dermatitis. Well after reading this I got a natural cream I looked the like of from england called mama nature's proskin eczema. I could not believe that within a couple of days there was a marked improvement. It gradually faded to the point where after three weeks it is hardly noticeable. I will continue to use this cream and thank my lucky stars I did not give up on my PD. Be aware though this cream is not cheapest on the market but I would still recommend it just the same.

Along with using the cream, I have started a high-dose treatment of internally taking grapefruit seed extract (gse). The daily recommended dose for adults is around 30 drops and I upped this to 100 drops, spaced out in 5 or 6 doses throughout the day. This is like taking antibiotics without killing off the good bacteria that your body needs. I have not experienced any stomache upset or discomfort, so I will continue with the 100 drops for a while and then gradually reduce back to the 30 a day for maintenance. I highly recommend trying one or both of these options. My dermatitis was a result of first using a glycolic product that burned my skin and then using topical steroids to try and clear that up. The result was the dermatitis.

Then I found this amazing tiny 2oz expensive jar of California Baby Calendula Cream. I applied it all day for 3 days and by the 3rd day the rash, and peeling was gone leaving me smooth skin with only a slight red color. (Im guessing because it was so damaged and so many layers I had peeled off) But I am now on day 5 and I can feel amazing.. I can put on makeup again to cover the slight redness and theres no peeling so the makeup looks normal. I recommend this cream... It's all organic and you can find it on the internet or I found mine at Whole foods an organic grocery store. I was told that the California Baby line sells at Target too but I have not checked there yet. I'm telling you this $13 cream gave me my face back. I'll put it on for the rest of my life if I have to. It's easier than all the other stuff I was trying!