Rosacea/ Seborrheic Dermatitis- A nightmare before Christmas!

Warning- LONG but INTERESTING POST!  

My fellow quirky little beauties,

Apart from the occasional periodic spots, my skin was fine before the contraceptive pill.  In fact, it was great! Those were the days when I just rolled out of bed and went out because I did not give a crap! Though now I realize that the only reason why I didn’t give a crap was precisely because I had ‘great’ skin and did not need an ounce of make-up to make it look better. Ain’t it funny when they say ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone’? No it isn’t… I agree!

Back then, I had never taken the contraceptive pill. Right before Christmas 2007, three months after I started my monthly course of oral contraceptives my skin, body and hair went NUTS! I was bloated, my hair started thinning, I lost weight (I am pretty skinny naturally, so I looked like a walking skeleton) and most horrendous of all, my once great skin was not so great anymore… it was spotty :-0 Dum Dum DUH!!! 

Rosacea/ Seborrheic D. flare-up!
Skin is clear if careful!

The spots were/are not conventional acneic spots. They are rather small, red bumps with occasional whiteheads and hardly ever blackheads. They occur predominantly on your cheeks (that’s where mine congregate and have little group meetings :-S ) but can also appear on your forehead and chin. They often appear in clusters and are accompanied by a red tint to your skin. You might also suffer from broken capillaries and feel a slight burning or tingling sensation if you use harsh skin care products because rosacea/ seborrheic dermatitis skin is by nature very sensitive. Rosacea flare-ups can come and go, depending on your triggers so you might not always have it apparent. There is no cure but it can be controlled. 

As I experienced no side-effects in the first two months of taking the pill, when I started getting these symptoms, I had no idea what they were, so I thought it was because my diet had changed as I previously lived in China (even though I had been in England for 1 year already before I went on the contraceptive pill, so my diet had already been different for a year with no problems…silly me).

So I continued to take microgynon -pill and started living a really healthy lifestyle (hard because I love my junk food)

However, 4,5,6 months later, I was worse than before so I knew that it had to be the pill. Within 4 years, I swapped and changed to 5 different pills – microgynon, marvelon, yasminelle, yasmin and finally a progesterone only pill, cerazette, which stopped my periods completely (now, I know they’re a pain, but I would rather wait ‘till menopause for that, thank you very much!)

I went to the dermatologist in SK:N clinics UK where I paid something like £120 for a 10 min consultation where the doctor diagnosed me with rosacea and prescribed me products that no longer existed.

Word of advice: never go to a doctor of any sorts, telling him what you THINK you have, because that’s what they will latch onto and won’t do a proper analysis. In other words- never self-diagnose! Unfortunately, no one told me that, so I went in saying I thought I had rosacea and BAM 10 minutes later, £120, no analysis, and an empty prescription. Yes, Yes I know she (or rather me, since I self-diagnosed) was correct for the most part, but because of the not so great experience I was in doubt of what I had with no money for a second opinion for the following 4 years!!!

I have now been off the pill for 1.5 year and only now are my periods starting to get regular. Right after I stopped I had some blood tests done and apparently my hormones had gone wild!

Last week, 4 years later, I finally got my second opinion from channel 4 nutritionist & dermatologist doctor Claudia Louch who diagnosed me with Seborrheic Dermatitis- GOD DAMN IT, why can’t things be simple?! It can turn into rosacea, or can happen in conjunction with rosacea, but for now she thinks it’s only seborrheic dermatitis – ohhhh, so that’s what it is…gee thanks :-S!

The cause is still unknown but it is believed to be a yeast infection, hormonal imbalance, low immune system, etc (I will explain both rosacea & seborrheic dermatitis in more detail in a later post).

She asked me to get some blood tests done as she thinks the onset of my disease (lol) was the contraceptive pill (hormonal) which caused my immune system to break down (again… let’s keep the good news coming hey?!)

Yesterday, I went to my GP because I did not want to pay the extortionate amounts for private health care and she told me that microgynon was too strong for my petite (48 kg- 7.5 stones) body mass and that microgynon pill should only be prescribed to people with 60 + kilos! I just HAD to laugh! Ain’t it funny when the person who is supposed to know exactly what they are doing, doesn’t! and messes up your system completely? No it isn’t…I agree!

PS- I do NOT want to encourage ANYONE to stop taking the pill at all!!! Oral contraception can be great and if you have no side-effects, by all means continue to use it! Most of my friends did not have any side-effects, and in fact, for people whose hormones are imbalanced or you suffer from Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome, taking the contraceptive pill might possibly make your skin better. I just urge you to really talk to your GP to measure your weight and all-encompassing factors before deciding on a pill. If you are 7.5 stones, the amount of hormones you will need for the contraceptive to be effective will be less than someone who weighs 10 stones.

This is just the onset of my rosacea/seborrheic dermatitis. Who knows if things would’ve been different?

Part 2 will be more generic where I will explain the different causes, symptoms and triggers that can cause rosacea/ seborrheic dermatitis to flare up.  I will also be doing a ‘first impressions’ for my experience with Claudia Louch- Harley street clinics, and the holy grail product I had been searching for,  so keep a look out!