Need advice on my Seborrheic Dermatitis issue
I'm 19 years old. 4 years ago I started getting awful
Acne out of nowhere. It was clearly internal because I broke out anytime I drank beer or got too stressed, but I was really young and didn't know anything about health back then. So I went to a dermatologist and got a retinoid cream (Retin-A) and Minocycline
Antibiotics . I used these in conjuction for 6-7 months and my skin got wrecked. The
Acne did stop, but my barriers were completely destroyed and my face became red, raw, and shiny. It was red as a tomato and even a gust of wind could cause it to flush.
When I stopped the Retin-A and
Antibiotics I saw the first signs of what I believe is
Seborrheic Dermatitis . My face started developing these thick, oily, yellow scales that build up into a sticky mask across my cheeks, jaw and nose. I went to my dermatologist and he had no idea what the scales were, he just wiped them off my face and told me to keep it clean.
I didn't care about the scales at the time, I was just focused on healing my horribly damaged and red skin. I spent 2 years trying various natural products and eventually went caveman. After all this time a lot of the damage does seem to be healed. On a good day my skin has no redness at all. Even on a bad day the redness is still mild. My skin has regained a lot of strength and I can actually get some sun exposure without getting burned. However, with my skin healing so much, the dermatitis problem has become a lot more apparent.
My pores are incredibly clogged, I can literally see the yellow stuff building up inside of them and then oozing out if I leave them alone. Without the redness to distract from this problem my pores are much more apparent and gross looking. My skin is still somewhat rough looking, and I think the fact that I'm constantly scrubbing it with my fingers to remove the build-up just makes it worse.
After doing research I've decided this is both an internal and external issue. Externally, my skin got really damaged and this fungus or whatever took over my face and is proliferating daily. Internally, the
Antibiotics must have wiped out whatever good flora I had, leaving my immune system vulnerable to fungal overgrowth as well. I feel sick whenever I eat too many fruits or carbs, and I also get sick if I take too many antifungals. A few months ago I spent a couple of weeks eating no fruit or carbs, and I felt incredible, better than I've felt since I was a little kid. But then I took a huge amount of Oregano Oil (powerful antifungal) and I got so sick I couldn't eat anything for days, then I had to go back to carbs to get my strength back. When I took all the antifungals my skin got an awful flareup where it got incredibly oily and red. The oilier my skin gets, the more red and flared it looks.
Also, I have Seb Derm on my scalp and behind my ears as well, but I never used any creams in those areas. The skin on my scalp never got damaged, and yet I still developed it there, which is further proof of an internal link.
Anyway, I'm just looking for insight from people here. I feel so alone in this, it's really screwing with my social life, and the doctors I went to just tried to prescribe me steroid creams. My internal protocol that I'm starting now is to:
1) Eat a diet consisting of no fruit, carbs, or grains
2) Supplement in what I'm probably deficient in (Biotin, Zinc, Vitamin D, etc.)
3) Take antifungals orally (Coconut oil, Yucca Root, etc.)
4) Clean out any junk in my colon (Apple Cider Vinegar enemas)
5) Re-colonize good bacteria by eating Kefir, Apple Cider Vinegar, doing probiotic enemas.
6) Strengthen the gut and immune system by taking things like Glutamine, Bone Broth, Milk Thistle Dandelion, Slippery Elm.
I have no idea what to do topically, for my skin. I tried raw honey masks and they make my skin softer and clearer looking but they don't help with the clogged pores or the flaking at all. I need a regimen that can control the flaking so I don't have to scrub my skin with my fingers everyday. I also think I need to topically restore acidity and good bacteria to my skin to great an inhospitable environment for fungus and help my skin to rebuild. I was thinking of Apple Cider Vinegar as a toner.
Does anyone have any advice? I've come a long way in my research and I think I've figured out what to do, but maybe there's something I'm missing. Any insight would be appreciated because I'm kind of going crazy trying to figure this all out on my own while juggling school + a social life. Thanks