★★★★★
Honey
★★★★★
I used 2.5 % hydrocortisone cream on my face for a couple of months (to treat a minor eczema) and flared after stopping to use it. Unfortunatley, I did not know that the flaring was due to a "withdrawl reaction" that I now am aware of, and made an emergency appt. with a GP who gave me fluocinonide .05% to relieve the itching. First of all, if your doc gave you this, apparantly, you are NOT supposed to use it on your face (of course, I learned this too late as well). I used it for a couple of months (big no no, but I received no instructions from the doc) and my face flared into full blown perioral dermatitis (POD) after I stopped. The burning was so unbearable, I can't even describe it. Here is what I did that worked:
First, I weaned off steroid creams. I took 2.5% cortisone twice a day for a week, then reduced it to once a day in addition to 1% OTC Hydrocortisone cream (once a day) for a couple of days, until I used the 1% cream once a day and then ceased to take it alltogether. This made the withdrawl rection more bearable. Be kind to yourself and wean off. Do not stop cold turkey- I did that the first time and it was so unbearable, I can't even decribe it.
The yogurt mask is good in the beginning during the "withdrawl reaction" period b/c it is cold and relieves the burning. It made my face dry and peel, but it made me feel better. I did not put on ANY coverup or moisturizer during this period. I did this mask every day for about 1.5 weeks and did nothing else. I'm not sure if it improved the POD, but it was relieving. I used ___ organic apple cider vinegar topically 2 times a day. It does make the area looked more red initially, but long term it helped me. It also burns like crazy. I took it a couple times internally (1 tsp in 8 oz) but not consistently. After two weeks of using the acv, I definately saw improvement, but I reached a point where the POD was not getting better or worse. I decided to start using manuka honey. I put it on every day for a couple of hours and/or slept with it on for about a week. It's uncofortable having honey on your face, but I really wanted it to go away. Currently, I am not 100% better yet, but I am about 95% improved (Thank G-d!). The combo of acv and manuka honey was good for me. Make sure to get the honey with at least 100mg/kg methylglyoxal, which is apparently the minimum amount of methylglyoxal necessary for antibacterial activity. (I read a lot about this manuka honey before getting it, so make sure to get a good one. _______). I'm still using the manuka honey every day and occasionally using acv topically. I also started taking acv (1 tsp in 8 oz) a couple days ago to get rid of it for good.
I was literally in tears from the pain of POD and couldn't take looking at myself in the mirror. I wish everyone suffering for this a speedy recovery, and hope you all can learn from my experience.
p.s. If you are currently on antibiotics, do not stop. You must finish your course of treatment or you will select for antibiotic resistant bacteria and then be in real trouble. I saw a lot of ppl. post that antibiotics didn't help them and immediately thought that I should just make sure ppl. know not to stop antibiotics if they are already on them.
Good luck and G-d Bless:)
