blepharitis

[redandsensitive]

Hi!

I have seborrheic dermatitis and seborrheic blepharitis, so my skin on face and eyelids are produsing waay to much sebum (oil). If I close my eyes for 15 min, I have oil debri on eye lashes, and after 8 hours sleep, well, that's just extrem!

So I know what to do when the meibomian glands in eyes are produsing to little or no sebum, or the glands are blocked. But what should I do since my eyes are produsing way to much oil? It's an never ending cicle, I wipe it off, then more comes out. I use the ocusoft eye lid cleanser, but the oil just keep coming..

So any ideas?

Thanx, RS

[peepers]

Im not a doctor but im curious to know that if you could control oil production from your face would it help your eye symptoms? Just a thought. Surely there are plenty of face products to stop the oil prduction

[alisonW]

Peepers - no, no way to "stop the oil production" except for accutane which is what may have caused severely dry eyes for many of us on here. You can make sure to gently cleanse and not use stripping or harsh cleansers which can cause re-bound oiliness. Blotting papers can help absorb surface oil and work very well for the face. It's a great idea though and I'd be first in line to pay whatever it cost if there was a safe way to stop oil production. (I've been cursed with it my entire life and have been to countless derms over the past 25 years to try to control it. Your theory is the same as the one that says you can help ocular rosacea by taking care of the facial symptoms but that too is not true for everyone unfortunately.) There is one other drug that's used off-label to stop sebum production (spironolactone/aldactone) but my docs said "no way - it will make your eyes drier then they already are".


redandsenstivie - no ideas on how to stop the eyes from producing so much oil - will be interested in what others have to say.

[spmcc]

RE: rosacea, seb derm, ocular rosacea...

Hi,

I was diagnosed with rosacea waaaay back in the day (1986ish). Then I was diagnosed with ocular rosacea in 1995. Then... I was diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis... which I have since found out often goes hand-in-hand with rosacea.

One of the strange things I've found out about seb derm is that, while people with rosacea are supposed to avoid the sun, sun actually helps calm seb derm. So now I try to some sunlight on my face each day (not a lot obviously).

Also I think it's important to use all the dandruff/seb derm/psoriasis shampoos... in other words, get one bottle of each of the active ingredients out there. There's zinc pyrithione, tar, selenium sulfide, salicylic acid, and ketoconazole (there may be more). Cycle through them... one per day... also scrub/wash your eyebrows and even your face with the suds.

There are also a bunch of other strange things you can try... who knows? I googled seb derm when I was first diagnosed and tried things like milk of magnesia and apple cider vinegar on my face! Didn't work for me...

I hope something helps you.

[peepers]

Peepers - no, no way to "stop the oil production" except for accutane which is what may have caused severely dry eyes for many of us on here. You can make sure to gently cleanse and not use stripping or harsh cleansers which can cause re-bound oiliness. Blotting papers can help absorb surface oil and work very well for the face. It's a great idea though and I'd be first in line to pay whatever it cost if there was a safe way to stop oil production. (I've been cursed with it my entire life and have been to countless derms over the past 25 years to try to control it. Your theory is the same as the one that says you can help ocular rosacea by taking care of the facial symptoms but that too is not true for everyone unfortunately.) There is one other drug that's used off-label to stop sebum production (spironolactone/aldactone) but my docs said "no way - it will make your eyes drier then they already are".


redandsenstivie - no ideas on how to stop the eyes from producing so much oil - will be interested in what others have to say.

Im sorry i was just curious to know. I feel for you because my eyes are constantly red & sore. I think i have mild rosacea & severe occular rosacea. Im trying to control my facial symptoms which will hopefully ease my eye symptoms.Hope is all i have.I've tried everything which is available to me.Nothing has worked unfortunately

[redandsensitive]

Okey, I can try the shampos, I guess that's all that is for seb derm..
I think about taking accutane, since there's nothing else out there (without shampos and remedies).

maybe that drug can slow the oilproduction down, so the tearfilm gets a higher quality.

One other thing.. When I did take 10 grams to 30 grams of first presed, virgin, organic, flaxseed oil, my eyes got a lot better!! But, I got massive acne on face because of the omega 3, when I quit the flaxseed, my face cleared up. What's up with that?

wellwell, have a nice day

[alisonW]

redandsensitive - Please don't take accutane. There are many of us on here that now have severly dry eyes *because* of accutane. Do a board search and you'll find many negatve posts about it. You may end up a lot worse off than you already are. Also, it's positive effects (no oil on the skin, cleared acne) only lasted one year for me but the negatives have lasted forever. Flaxseed oil is a common acne inducer. Definitely try omega-3 fish oil instead. Many find that cod liver oil is a good choice.

peepers - I hope facial rosacea meds can help your eyes as well. Haven't helped mine but you may have better luck.

[spmcc]

RE: shampoos etc.

My suggestion about special shampoos used daily is something you could start right away *while you wait for your appointment with a dermatologist*.

There are prescription topicals that dermatologists, I'm sure, would be happy to prescribe. The prescription topical that I have works great!

Good luck (and I concur with the above post to avoid accutane... but, again, a dermatologist will help you make a decision that's best for you... make sure to tell him/her about your eyes!)

[redandsensitive]

Thank you so much for taking the time answering me. I will take your tip to my heart. I will not use accutane. I will ask about low dose..

Okay, I've started taking cod liver oil today. Hope some of the pain takes a break.

I've ordered those shampos, I have one shampo (anti dandruf) now that have zinc something as the active ingredient. But don't help at all.

I have ordered castor oil today, witch(?) I plan to put directly into my eyes before I go to sleep. I've read that this can help blep??

Does anyone know what the physiology of seborrheic dermatitis is? What causes my oil glands to produce massive amounts of sebum (oil)? Is it a fungus that attack my oil glands, witch makes them go crazy? I know that if I can slow this production down, my eyes will get a lot better.. So does anyone have a link to a webpage or something that describes this? I have done a great deal of searching on the web, but can't find a webpage that describes this well...

I'm facinated by the human organism, but it's a lot to learn..


Have a painfree day

[littlemermaid]

Seb derm, rosacea, acne, MGD

Hi redandsensitive: Happy to hear you feeling cheerful. You really need a good dermatologist to work with: http://www.legeforeningen.no/id/3584.0

Is it a fungus that attack my oil glands, witch makes them go crazy?

Our new dermatologist thinks naturally occurring Malassezia proliferates off sebum, that's all. Some derms think there is an inflammation response to Malassezia and this is why they prescribe antifungals for seb bleph. Very interesting.

Flaxseed oil is a common acne inducer. Definitely try omega-3 fish oil instead. Many find that cod liver oil is a good choice.

alisonW: Have you got any info/research on this? We're desperate to discuss this again with our ophth. Flaxseed oil is flaring her eyes up as well as skin but we don't know why. We are also finding eye:skin sebaceous flare ups from ingested fats and sugar seem mostly unrelated, although I think there is bacterial infection to the MGs off the face. Different types of sebaceous gland, I am thinking.

Does anyone know what the physiology of seborrheic dermatitis is?

redandsensitive: New derm thinks sebaceous overproduction is hormonal, testosterone. Hey . Only your endocrinologist knows for sure although we've zero chance of testing in UK as far as I know. He also says NO isotretinoin/Accutane, no more oral antibiotics. Got enough problems.

[alisonW]

Hi littlemermaid - no, I don't have any research supporting my theory about flaxseed oil inducing acne. It's mostly anecdotal based on the experience I had with it (horrible breakouts each time I tried it, and I never break out anymore) and the experience of several real-life friends who all ended up with acne as well.

There is also a large number of people reporting the same negative experience with acne on the various health and beauty forums I visit. On those skincare/beauty boards that I frequent the recommendation to avoid flaxseed oil if you are acne-prone is standard advice. Same goes for evening primrose oil.

Some have said it has to do with the fact that flaxseed oil also contains omega 6 which most of us already have an abundance or over-abundance of in our diet. Omega 3's are what we are normally lacking and are anti-imflammatory.

Here's one link I found that supports the idea that the omega 6 is *pro-inflammatory*.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/f...oil-000304.htm

Hth!

[littlemermaid]

Great link, alisonW. Many thanks.

[potz6]

hello, here's a few things that helped me with my blehparitis so far:

1.Omega 3 supplement, they really do help just give it some time.

2.Head & Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo works best for my dandruff problem.

3.Systane eye drops did the trick for me. gives me at least 3-4 hours of relief.


good luck, and hopefully you will get better

[littlemermaid]

Seb derm links

redandsensitive: just in case you haven't seen these fun links http://wn.com/Sebhorrheic_dermatitis (ignore steroids, not good). Dermnet.org.nz is always good Still interested in fungi:seb derm:bleph relationship. This is why you need a dermatologist to work with, as spmcc and alisonW are saying; there are so many treatments available but you need help to tailor them to your case.

[redandsensitive]

Thanx for reply. I'm not interested in going to doctors anymore. In my experience, they only prescribe sterioids and antibiotics...

Since all this is caused by a fungus, why not just put anti-fungus cream/shampo on eyes (eyes closed) and face, so the fungus get's killed off..?

I'm about to try castor oil in my eyes to relive inflamation, and I take loooot's of anti fungi tabl. My mission is to clean my body, and replace it with good nutrients and good bacteria.