Your face is most people’s first impression of you (unless they’re blind, and then it might be your voice). Whether or not you think that’s shallow, you have to agree that generally as a culture, we place a large importance on our appearance.
So naturally, one might get freaked out or annoyed when something randomly pops up on one’s face, right?
Plus, the rumor is that having one autoimmune condition greatly increases your likelihood of developing another. Boo.
About 6 months ago, back in August 2018, I noticed a small reddish, flaky, un-itchy, rashy-looking-thing on the left side of my mouth. Not cool.
Over the months, it has gotten worse, improved, spread to the other side of my mouth, improved, looked bad again, and spread to my nostrils. Super sexy, let me tell you.
Then in November, I decided to go to the dermatologist for a diagnosis. I didn’t realize the appointment would leave me feeling so frustrated.
She literally spent less than 5 minutes in the room with me. And 75% of that time was used on the full-body skin-cancer scan they offer.
She took one look at my face and called it “perioral dermatitis.” Fancy name for rash around the mouth.
She asked what toothpaste I used. I told her I use all-natural Uncle Harry’s Tooth Powder because I have sensitive teeth. And she told me to switch to Tom’s toothpaste.
She totally disregarded an important piece of health history I had just given her. She didn’t even stop to look up alternatives for sensitive teeth. Which might have taken all of 2 minutes on the laptop she had in her hands.
The brand I was using doesn’t have fluoride, which is primarily what causes perioral dermatitis in most of her patients. So even though the brand I use doesn’t have a key ingredient that causes issues, she told me to switch toothpastes anyway.
Then she prescribed THIRTY DAYS of antibiotics and an antibiotic lotion. This bothered me for several reasons:
- If I do all 3 of those things (switch toothpaste, oral antibiotics, topical antibiotic lotion), how will I know which one worked?
- There are so many news stories of how doctors over-prescribe antibiotics unnecessarily. This contributes to antibiotic resistance for those whose lives depend antibiotics, superbugs, etc. When I asked her if she thought this was a bacterial infection, she said “It could be.” I’m sorry, that’s not good enough for me.
- I had just been put on a low-FODMAP diet by both my functional nurse practitioner and my naturopath for a recent SIBO diagnosis. Antibiotics would heavily aggravate an issue I am trying to heal.
- She didn’t prescribe subsequent probiotics to replace all of the bacteria that these antibiotics were likely to wipe out.
- The typical duration for a round of antibiotics ranges from 7-14 days for ear infections, UTIs, acute illnesses, etc. To me, 30 days seemed to be overkill for something that is not that serious. And only possibly “could be” bacterial.
I won’t go back to this dermatologist. I felt more like a number than a patient. She rapidly talked at me, I couldn’t get a word in, and she didn’t ask me if I had any questions for her.
So I refused the antibiotics at the drug store, but I did pick up the lotion. It didn’t seem to do much after a few days. I know, I know, I’m supposed to try it for longer than a few days. But this approach just doesn’t feel right to me.
I did get what I wanted though – a diagnosis. Now that I knew what it was, I could research it myself to see if there were more natural approaches.
True, natural approaches take longer, but they are better for you in the long run. I was also very thankful it didn’t turn out to be another autoimmune condition such as psoriasis.
Some sources I found suggested that perioral dermatitis could be related to a toothpaste, or a face moisturizer, or makeup, or lipstick… Others suggested it could be a side effect of SIBO and could possibly be food-related.
So I first switched away from my tooth powder and have been using Desert Essence for about 6 weeks now. Not much of a change there, so I could probably switch back to Uncle Harry’s Tooth Powder.
Next, I switched my face moisturizer. Not much of a change there either.
Then I switched lipsticks. Then stopped wearing lipstick altogether. That seemed to help a little… but not much.
My acupuncturist, Jaime, has also been adding needles to my face to help calm the inflammation. It’s definitely been helping!
In my 2nd visit with my naturopath 3 days ago, she suggested a calendula succus to use topically. And to also give up anything coconut-related for 4-6 weeks.
For someone on such a limited diet already, it sucks to have to give up something so versatile like coconut, but I’m willing to do it because I want to heal. It did show up on my most recent food sensitivity test, so maybe I really am sensitive to it.
Most skin issues point to something going on internally with your body’s inability to detox properly. So if I’m eating something that’s causing issues on my face, there’s a 99% chance it’s also causing issues internally too. And no one wants that!
I’ll be writing about my visits with my naturopath soon. She spent 2 hours with me during our first visit. I finally felt heard.
This is why I got into Nutritional Therapy in the first place. In today’s healthcare system, people need to be listened to and treated like people, not numbers.
I’ll keep you updated on how these new suggestions affect my face. In the meantime, have you ever had an experience like this where you didn’t feel heard? Where you didn’t feel like a patient, but rather just a number? Feel free to comment below…