Conference turris::womannotes-v1

    Sounds like the same thing I had.  It started one february as Impetigo.
     A nasty staph/strep systemic infection that shows up as nasty yellow
    crusties...well I won't go into details.  I waas put on a superduper
    antibiotic called Minocin.  I stayed on it for several months. 
    The impetigo must have left (I didn't notice, the transition was
    subtle) but I still had a nasty rash all over my face (denoted
    by reddish chin, pimplythings, and a "craterlike" appearance of
    the cheeks (like my pores got really big or something).  Also my
    skin burned and hurt and my face was swollen.  So the doctor figured
    it was impetigo still and gave my phisohex and kept me on minocin.
     But after a few months of drying my face out totally, I went to
    a skin specialist.  He gave me the straight view.  Prescribed
    Penicillin, since the peri-oral skin problem (which was no longer
    impetigo) wasn't responding to the minocin.  So I used hydrocortizone
    (2%) on my face several times a day, and the penicilline worked
    out well.  But every now and then, when I'm stressed out (like a
    week or two ago), it begins to come back.  I was on antibiotics
    for a year and a half trying to get rid of the skin problems, and
    I hate to imagine what that did to my body's immunity system.  But
    it's under control most of the time.  I take a few penicillin pills
    over the course of a week or two, combined with over-the-counter
    hydrocortizone (.5%).  Also I find that drinking
    more water when it starts to crop up helps, as does taking
    multivitamins (like Centrum or something).  I don't know why or
    how, but they help me.  You have my deepest sympathy - and if you
    hear of anything else that helps (that doesn't involve drugs and
    such) tell me please.

    Be well.  And if you belong to HCHP plan, I'll refer you to my dr.
    
    -Jody
    

    Almost forgot.  About your tender face...Aveenobar (oilated) is
    gentle and comfy to your skin.  Believe me, there is an end in sight.
     I remember walking into where I worked feeling like a leper...how
    people would stare but never talk about it.  
    
    anyone else had this?
    
    -Jody
    

    Thanks for the info.  Actually, it's more comfortable to have people
    say "what happened to your face?  poison oak?"  than to have them
    pretend they don't notice.  I wonder why this is.....
    

    My doctor prescribed ultra-violet treatments. They really
    helped. These aren't the same as tanning salons. Its a selected
    wavelength.
    
    And yes stress does it to me. I take extra vitamins when it happens
    to. Cutting way done on caffeine has helped to. I started with it
    on my trunk and fortunately it didn't go to my face (just neck)
    before I got treated.
    
    Take some vacation time or pamper yourself!
    

Add me to the list too!  I'm also fighting this.  My face has been bad
for about 7 years, and I always thought it was acne, caused by my bad
eating habits (too many greasy foods, etc).  Last year, I switched to a 
very healthy diet and when my face still didn't clear up, I went to a 
dermatologist.  Turns out it had nothing to do with grease, or my bad diet
as such.  (Although a good diet is part of the cure.)  My dermatologist
described the condition as the capillaries (sp?) being too close to the
surface of the skin, therefore getting infected much easier from outside
germs.  This is what my dermatologist prescribed:

Avoid major facial dialators...
	-Hot steamy foods and liquids (hot coffee, hot tea, hot soup, etc.
  		Wait until the foods are lukewarm).
	-Alcohol
	-Spicy foods
	-Stress
	There are a few more that I can't remember right now.  Basically 
        it's anything that gives your face the warm, reddish feeling all over.	
	This means the capillaries are dialated and are more open to germs.

Betadine Soap.  3 times a day.  (You can also buy this in a generic form.
				  Less expensive, same ingredients.)

Prescriptions:

	-Minocin.  When my face is doing really good, I can choose to go
		   off this.  Then when it starts to get bad again, I 
		   start taking this until it clears up. 

	-Some sort of sulfur compound.  I put this on at night.  Apparently
                   it works toward killing the infection.

	-A mixture of two lotion type things, that I put on twice a day,
                   like you would a moisturizer.  (sorry can't remember the
                   names of these medications.  If you want the names, let
	           me know.  I'll get them off the precription bottles at home.)


This works fantastic for me!  Within two weeks, my complexion was clear.
First time in 7 years.  What a relief not to have people asking me what
happened to my face.  I recently got really busy, and didn't keep up
the regimen above.  Within about a week, my face was bad again.  Somebody
asked me what had happened.  They asked me how I scraped up my face.  Ugh!
That was enough to get me back into the regimen of following the doctors
orders.  It's worth it to have a clear face!

- Molly -

    molly,
    could you please list all the medications you are taking?
    
    re?  where do you get these ulta-violet light treatments? i was
    thinking of going to a tanning salon for my face :-(
    do they still sell sunlamps?  i know it is dangerous but,when your
    face is a mess one tend to get desperate!
    
    
    kelly

    Just a question - does anyone know the impact being on antibiotics
    long-term has on the body?  This would not only include folks with
    rosea being on minocin, but also  people with acne being on
    tetracycline and people who get other infections often being on
    penicillin etc.
    
    My previous assumption was that it weakened the body's defenses,
    and thus if you quit them  cold-turkey you'd get zillions of various
    barrages of infections since your body was unguarded.  Does anyone
    have the scoop?  After all the health problems and drugs I've been
    on, this is the one real thing I worry about.
    
    -Jody
    

    RE .7:
    
    Major problem with long term use of antibiotics is that it kills
    *all* bacteria, including the lacto-bacilli that kill yeasts.  The
    natural outcome of this is systemic yeast infection.  Long term,
    it develops super-strains of bacteria that are immune to antibiotics,
    as well as lowering natural body defenses, so you start getting
    stubborn infections anyway.  Then you need to change antibiotics,
    and start strains of bacteria immune to that, and it just goes on.
    
    Elizabeth (Who refuses to take antibiotics unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY)
    

    Re: .5
    
    Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm certainly going to try some
    of them.
    
    It was either a sulfur or topical eurythrumycen (I _know_ that isn't
    spelled right) that totally trashed my face with a sensitivity reaction
    last week, however.  I've since met someone else who had the same
    thing happen when she used topical eurythrumycen for acne -- beet
    red face, incredible burning sensation for about a week, you want
    to spend all the time with your face in a bowl of cold water.
    Fortunately that has now died down, so although I still look awful,
    I feel okay.
    
    Does anyone else have the "characteristic" area of redness of the
    chin and in the smile-lines area?  This morning my doctor said he
    thinks that is a reaction to the cortizone and will "fade away in
    about three months".  (But doc, the redness was there before I started
    the cortizone....)  If anyone has had this, what helped?
    
    I have an appointment at the dermatology clinic at Stanford Univ.
    next week.  Time to bring out the big guns.  Nice for me to know
    other people have this problem, although not nice for you guys,
    I know.
    

    re .7, depends on the person:
    
    I've been on 200 mg. of minocin per day for almost 4 years.  Once,
    for two weeks, I had some sort of vaginal infection.  That's the only
    side effect I can remember having had.  My Dr. is fairly conservative
    about things, I've had a couple of tests to monitor it, and she seems
    confident.
    
    Oh yes, I was off of the minocin for about six months two years ago
    (I was out of work and the stuff is *expensive*) with no problems.
    I was on some other antibiotic for some of that time
    (erythromicin,sp?).
    
    	-Ellen

    I have also been told that Tetracycline or Penacillian can make
    Birth Control Pills less effective.
    
    cin
    

    back when I was more "into" vitamins, Vitamin E in ointment form
    was prescribed for many skin ailments, from chapped lips to
    birth marks. It worked well on my hands, when I worked out-of-
    doors and my hands were extremely rough. Might be worth a shot.
    
    Dana

    The ultra-violet treatments are given by a dermatologist.
    The tanning salons are NOT the same thing and can be dangerous.
    The machine allows selective wave length setting and filters
    out the portion that can cause skin cancer etc. I think
    seeing a dermatology clinic at a medical teaching facility is
    your best bet. 
    

    RE: .4
    
    I checked the names of my medications last night.  The sulfur one
    is SULFACET-R.  And the other one says WESTC/NIZOR.  This one is
    a mixture of two medications that the pharmacist mixes together.
    (I have to order this one a day before I want to pick it up because
    it takes time to mix it.)  WESTC and NIZOR are probably abbreviations of
    some sort.  Sorry, I don't know what the real names are.
                           
    RE: .11  
    
    You have to be very careful when taking MINOCIN also.  If taken
    properly, it doesn't reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills.
    The way my doctor described it, is that the Minocin will combine
    with whatever is in your system at the time you take it, and then
    both things will be pretty much useless.  So the Minocin has to
    be taken on an absolutely empty stomach (plain water only, not even coffee
    or anything).   He suggests that the Minocin be taken right before
    going to bed, and the BCP should be taken in the morning.
                                   
    - Molly -

    re.??? (sorry i have a head cold and short term memory is not working
    very well tonight)
    what my dermatoligist told me was that tetracyclin does make the
    pill less effective,it also made me sick to my stomach.
    i switched to eurathemycin(sp?) does not effect the pill and did
    not make me sick.
    
    long term effects:very nasty yeast infection!!!
    (bonnie,i was also "painted purple"
    
    
    kelly

    Re: .15
    Was it the tetracycline or the eurythromycin that brought on the
    yeast?  Were you able to get rid of the yeast infection while you
    were still taking the antibiotic?
    

    Any antibiotic worth its salt will bring on a yeast infection if
    one is prone to them.  The antibiotic does not distinguish between
    the "good" bacteria and the "bad" bacteria (or germs or whatever).
     Thus the antibiotic will kill off the "friendly" bacteria whose
    purpose it is to restrain the yeast that is common/natural flora
    in the woman.  When you take an antibiotic, if you're prone to yeast
    infections, boost your intake of acidophilus (aka active-culture
    whole-milk yogurt, or the encapsulated version)
    
    

I had light treatments for psoriasis last year (with very good results)
at Lahey Clinic (large Boston area hospital) as a referral from Harvard
Community Health Plan.  There are two basic kinds of U-V treatment, referred
to by the wavelengths.  I had 3 treatments per week to start, and one a week
at the end of the 8-week (or so) series.  The first treatments were for only
a few seconds; while the last were for 15 minutes or so.  The clinic carefully
monitored the treatment.

There are also specialized light treatments using "light-activated" drugs:
you take a specific drug a few hours before the treatment which is activated
by the U-V light.  Consult your doctor for details.

Martin.

    re.16
    i was tking the eurthamycin(oh what the heck,i am not gonna excuse
    my spelling again).
    i switched to a topical, cleocin
    what got rid of the yeast infection?
    finally the genitain violet(spelling bonnie?)
    and keeping my hands away and running around my apartment in the
    buff.i shudder everytime i remember that miserable summer itching.
    
    this acne that we are talking about here ,are they just big red
    bumps ?
    the doctors keep telling me that it is stress.
    i have very few actual pimples,just these huge red bumps?
    
    kelly
    
    (maybe a good tranquelizer will do the trick :-)

    re.16
    another thought here
    the doctor had me gradually increase my intake of the antibiotics
    until i was taking 500 mil. a day ,i lasted about four or five monthes
    till i finally got a yeast infection.
    i dont know if that is a lot or not,but i got this sneaking feeling
    that he had me taking way too much
    
    kelly

    What I'm talking about is general unusual redness around the center
    of the face -- the chin, "smile-line" area, nose and center of the
    forehead.  Also little "pustules" -- they don't look like acne pimples.
     This is called "perio-oral rosea".  I have a feeling that replies
    to this note are from some folks with p-o rosea, some folks with
    acne, and some folks with psoriasis.
    
    Clutched in my fist even as we speak are some tetracycline pills
    and two topical things (nizoral and tridesilon) that I got at Stanford
    this a.m.  The doctor there said that there should be a substantial
    improvement in my face in two weeks, which is when I'm due back
    there.  I wish I believed this, but who knows.
    

    Re: .20
    500 mg a day of tetracycline is just what they have me taking now.
     They also said stress, and hot and (perhaps) spicy foods are
    contributing factors and should be avoided.
    

    Re: .19
    
    One thing I learned a few years ago about acne, is that various
    kinds of makeup and moisturizers, cleansers, etc. can cause it.
    If you can use a mild soap, like Basis, for cleaning your skin twice
    a day, and stay away from oil-based makeup (including blushers),
    etc. it may help.  Best thing is to find stuff that's labelled
    "non-comedogenic". (let's forget about even trying to spell.)
    Neutrogenia makes a non-comedogenic moisturizer.  All Clinique makeup
    bases and moisturizers are non-comedogenic.  I think it took about
    two weeks of changing my previous evil practices to this regime
    before I saw results when I had an acne attack a few years ago.

    Forty-eight hours after I started using the new medication in .21,
    and my face is already noticeably improved.  Yeah, Stanford.  It
    pays to doctor-shop.