Soolantra + stromectol + metronidazole as doctor of firstman prescribed. Found significant success after two weeks, completely gone after 2 month.
There are multiple guests from Belgium:
-one that is taking Soolantra and says he's clear, also known as Anymnoo and also known as the guest who thanked Firstman.
-one who is in the process of getting Soolantra.
It's pretty difficult to find more info about this disease, although I do have good success when looking for: oozing yellow crusts.
@anymnoo. Is your metronidazole in oral or topical form?
My successful medication in detail:
Soolantra (in total 2 month, got the prescription two times)
Stromectol (two times, second time 5 days after first one)
Metronidazole, oral (two weeks, started on the day I took stromectol the first time). Based on a paper that showed that stromectol combined with metronidazole is more efficient.
This is also in line with the literature about demodex that exists up to now.
Thanks for your input. We all benefit from anyone who gets healed.
KOS here, I thought I'd follow up on my first email a bit.
I'm in my late 30s and have had this problem since my early 20s. In my 20s it was worse, but I think I've mainly learned to manage it better and to accept it. I saw one dermatologist who had me on accutane and 5-6 antibiotics (including bactrim). I also tried nasal application of mupirocin because I was convinced if I could kill bacterial agents I might be able to lick it.
The only treatment that is clearly effective is benzaclin gel, and when a new spot starts to form I can apply benzaclin and usually avoid significant oozing or having the problem spread. But I've stopped using benzaclin in recent years because it's expensive and has a short shelf life and is very drying to my skin.
Currently I have the problem mainly on my face and neck, and sometimes behind my ears. I do get some acne on my back which crust or bleed a little bit, but it doesn't have the same pattern of oozing with a bright yellow crust. I don't have much "normal" acne on my face other than this problem, and my face can be clear for days at a time.
I have found it useful to let a new sore crust over (trying to dab it just enough so it doesn't drip but still coagulates) and it seems to heal faster that way. But the crust is kind of gross (sometimes people will tactfully tell me that I have salad dressing or something on my face).
I have been pretty assertive with several of the dermatologists I've seen, showing them photos and so on, but they've all pushed back and said it looks like acne to them (including dermatologists at Columbia and Stanford). Still, I hold out hope that they're wrong and there's an actual cure.
To transition from using topical antibiotics I tried the probiotic spray that AOBiome is selling for several months, but I can't say it made a noticeable improvement.
I'm trying an experiment this month to cut out alcohol and coffee (mainly because the problem started around the time I began consuming those beverages, and was worse around the time I drank the most coffee and alcohol) but don't have much to report yet.
If I hear from another person here that Soolantra / ivermectin was a long-term cure I'll definitely try to find a doctor who is on board with prescribing that for me.
Firstmanadam aka firstman/guest
Question 1: You mentioned that you were using both Soolantra and metronidazole. Was this metronidazole in topical or oral form?
Question 2: On which body parts did you have the problem? Eyebrows, cheeks, nose, around the mouth and on the eyelids?
Question 3: Would you like to share a photo of the problem? (Not that I don't belief you, but I would like to see to what extent your lesions matches mine.)
(It's pretty hard at Steadyhealth to share informational links, but they seem to allow image posts to postimg.org.)
I'm currently on day 25 of Soolantra and topical metronidazole and still get new lesions. Due to my topical steroid withdrawal, I got a break out shortly before the start of Soolantra, which made it temporary worse, while the topical steroids removed the symptoms (but not the problem). So it is difficult to say to determine whether my skin has improved compared to before the topical steroid.
The last dermatologist i've been seeing kept saying my condition was a mystery to him, despite 2 different swab tests, blood tests, and examinations... (a skin biopsy was offered as a last solution but i refused as the price was really too much.)
What I have found is that DIET has helped control the lesions a LOT. I have been reading a book called "The Paleo Diet" by a lady named Sarah Ballantyne (PhD). I highly recommend it. Please don't let the whole paleo trend put you off, the book really contains some golden scientific knowledge on how certain foods affect our gut. She goes into how she believes ALL skin problems are a result of a damaged gut that needs healing.
Why do I believe this? Firstly, the science in the book explains it all perfectly. What gives rise to the skin problems people face is a 'leaky gut', in which eating unnatural / unhealthy foods over a long period of time actually destroys the lining of our gut, creating microscopic openings that allow microscopic food particles to pass through into our bloodstream, creating a pathway for all sorts of autoimmune disorders from cancer, diabetes, all skin problems, hashimotos, schizophrenia, and many more.
Now, the past week I decided to try out this Paleo diet as I sort of seemed to notice that I would get big lesions usually after I've eaten food that did not follow a paleo lifestyle. For example, if i ate a cheeseburger and fries for lunch, I would notice a big lesion or two or more pop up by the end of the day, or if it was for dinner then definitely the next morning.
After eating Paleo, i either wouldn't get a lesion or I would but they would not grow big, usually very small, and heal MUCH faster. They did not feel so aggressive while under this diet, as in there was no harsh itchiness, hardly any oozing or none at all, and if a lesion did pop up it was gone by the next day.
After feeling that my skin was getting much better, I decided to have a cheat meal yesterday, and surprise surprise my skin flared up by the end of the day.
I have learned from the book that with my Type 1 Diabetes I have a major gluten intolerance. So giving the diet thing a shot really opened my eyes. I did notice that my skin lesions started happening after I was going through a period in my life where drinking 6 beers a DAY nearly EVERY DAY was normal.
I've been prescribed all kinds of things from dermatologists like creams for demodex, antibiotic pills, herpes creams, and steroid creams all in the hopes to find out whats causing the problem. NONE of them have worked. The steroid cream definitely helped reduce the size / growth of the lesions but it wasn't curing the problem, only covering it up, and the book also states how the use of steroid creams for skin problems is bad, bad, BAD.
It will take a couple of months of eating this Paleo diet to fully heal your gut, but to me, i'm going to stick to it and try. I'll let you guys know how it turns out, and please let me know if your specific medications definitely have healed you guys because im willing to try anything just to get rid of this.
Thanks!
Personally, I'm very interested in a skin biopsy, because I think that all other approaches are basically trial-and-error attempts. The difficult part about a skin biopsy is that you have to find a good physician that is able to perform, analyze and interpret it.
What creams for demodex did you use?
There are two people here that reported success with Soolantra + (probably oral) metronidazole + (optionally) oral ivermectin. Some have reported minor results with topical tea tree oil. (Watch out, can heavily irritate the skin in pure form.)