I finally found a remedy to my Seborrheic Dermatitis I believe

Hi there!

I've been suffering from this SD skin condition for at least 5 years now. It was in the face and very annoying. I'm in the 40´s btw if anyone cares. I have been to several doctors to no avail, the message I received was that this is a cronic condition and there is basically only two ways to address it: fungicids and cortisone. I'm sure you all know the mechanics underpinning these routes.

Sure, I got some temporary relief from these medication regimes, especially from a mild hydrocortisone (1% topical cream) that I have used more or less daily to push back the symptoms. The effect from the fungicides (mainly ketoconazol-based) were always more diffuse and I never counted on that compared to the trusty old hydrocortisone.

Two weeks ago I started trying something very different! It is basically just ordinary "extra virgin" olive oil, with a twist though. The theory behind it all was to improve the operation of the capillary blood vessels (e.g, elasticity) through the contained phenolic compounds that seems to be absorbed quite easily through the skin (I read that in some article somewhere...). I actually tried something similar some years ago, only to discover that the olive oil also seemed to feed the Malassezia yeast I apparently was allergic to so it didn't work very well back then... major flare-ups.

This time I used the olive oil as follows.
- I rub it in thoroughly on all affected areas, let it soak for an hour or so. Think of "oil massage" and you get the idea. I do this every evening, and I use one hand to continue massaging my face while surfing the net or watching some late night show or whatever.
- I rinse it off after an hour or two by using an *extremely mild* cleaning agent - I used something that is called "Eucerin" in Sweden, a very mild Ph5 wash lotion. I do this right before going to bed.

This almost magically made the skin heal completely within days! Unbelievable. No more need for any hydrocortisone and all the scaling/exfoliation it entailed, and no need for chemical fungicids. The skin just was transformed to healthy good skin.

Now, since the skin needed some rejuvenating after all these years of hydrocortisone use/misuse, I also began to add some fine-ground natural Sea Salt to the olive oil massage. This may feel a bit coarse and painful in the beginning but as the skin heals and thickens it is no problem really. The result is like from a good peeling - baby-smooth skin!

I just hope this treatment of mine will prove to have persistent effects... it is a bit too early to tell but it sure looks promising! I guess we are all our own scientists when it comes to curing SD and similar problems. What works for me might work for me only I'm afraid but maybe someone could get some inspiration to continue experimenting!

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Addendum per Feb 29.

After more than a week of being free from SD symptoms, there is an observation that could give further clues about the healing process that seems to be induced by this treatment.

After each oil/salt-wash treatment in the evenings, the skin has a general slight blush immediately afterwards, evenly distributed. In areas that were most affected from SD and the central facial erythema earlier, the blush stays much longer than in the unaffected areas. The effect subsides in an hour or two.

Next morning there are no remains of the effect, no scaling and no redness. After each repetition of the oil/salt-wash cycle, the remaining blush spots become slightly smaller and less noticeable after the treatment. It seems the effect is on its way to disappear entirely within a few days. Tweet