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Perioral dermatitis. It is a relatively common, chronic skin condition, that I and many others have suffered or still suffer from. It is an inflammatory rash involving the skin around your mouth, which can spread to the nose or even the eyes, in this case it is then referred to as periorificial dermatitis (1) and it can have a huge effect on your overall confidence and emotional state. The condition is often chronic and relapsing, with common remedies from a doctor being corticosteroids.
So, what is the issue with using steroids? The issue is not really with one time usage, but with repetitive, ongoing, long-term usage, when people believe it is the only thing to control their flare ups or have no other solutions to turn too. Long term usage can cause a long list of side effects, too many to list in one blog, but a few examples are thinning of the epidermal layer of skin, premature aging, easy bruising, and rosacea (2). It can lead to further allergies and may in fact begin to cause your perioral dermatitis, in the form of steroid withdrawal syndrome. Symptoms will often occur a few days after discontinuation of the steroids and can include burning skin, itching, redness, scaling, swelling, papules or pustules, with the skin on your face being at a high risk for this syndrome. (3)
At the end of the day, we must look at why you are suffering from this condition. What are your triggers? Because though steroids may give you some temporary relief, they are NOT a long-term solution, and using them is not getting to the how and why of your condition. It is not looking at the root cause.
To explain this further I would like to give you a little story about myself and why I have become so passionate to help others with this condition. I began suffering from perioral dermatitis about 3 years ago. I had always had dermatitis on my hands (caused by hairdressing) and often my eyes if I had reacted to a fragrance or washing powder for example, but never my mouth. It was at the same time that I began developing many more intolerances to foods, and it took me the best part of 3 years to finally figure out what was causing my symptoms.
What I discovered initially, after much trial and error, that it was foods containing histamines that were the major trigger for my flare ups. These flare ups would last weeks after exposure to these foods. As I began to remove them from my diet, my skin began to heal and I would have less and less of the flare ups. However, along with that came an anxiety around food. To give you an example as to why, common foods containing high histamine include tomatoes, alcohol, fermented foods, dairy, dried fruits, avocados, spinach, processed meats and shellfish, aged cheeses. Examples of foods that can also trigger a histamine response are bananas, wheat, beans, papaya, chocolate, citrus fruits, nuts, food dyes and additives. So, yes there were still lots of foods I could eat, but the options became less and less, and eating out was almost impossible. The joy around enjoying food, simply became a stressful event. ( A great resource for learning more about histamine is Dr Becky Campbells 4 Phase Histamine Reset Plan).
So I had removed the triggers, however it was by chance one day that I came across a brilliant new podcast called Red Pill Your Healthcast, which began to open my eyes to see that there was more to it than just a food intolerance and I began to discover the why. And the answer may shock you.
To understand where this potentially began, here is a back story on my childhood. I grew up on a sheep farm, I was raised on pure tank water, we breed puppies, we swam in dams and water troughs. And we thought nothing of it, farm life was a great way to grow up, however we were likely exposed to something that city kids weren’t quite as highly exposed to, and that is, parasites. Yep, worms. My mum would give us worm tablets quite regularly, however I have since learned that, a once off chemist brought worming tablet is often not enough to kill them completely.
Fast forward back to today. And I'm sorry in advance if this totally groses you out, and I'm sure you may think to yourself, oh that would never happen to me. But I am here to tell you, we are all exposed to these pathogens, whether we live in a first world country or not. They are in our foods, our water, the dirt, our animals, we can get parasites from many sources.
Back to me. What did I do? I began a course of herbs, that would kill the parasites and begin to heal my gut. I had tapeworms. I know, how disgusting, and I’m not talking tiny little pinworms, I’m talking 30–40-centimetre tape worms. How long these things had been living inside me, who really knows, I could have had them since childhood and it’s only now that they reached a point of causing a lot of symptoms. But what was even more satistfying than knowing I had rid myself of these grose little critters, was once I had completed the course of herbs, I unintentionally ate something I would normally react too. And to my absolute surprise…I had no reaction. So, I began testing this theory even further, and guess, what, I stopped reacting to pretty much everything! My perioral dermatitis was gone!
No steroids, no topical ointments, no expensive skincare, no pharmaceuticals, no time consuming and expensive doctors visits. I simply began to heal my gut and get rid of the toxins that were steadily rising inside of me.
I like to think of it like this. We all have a toxin bucket, and as toxins enter that bucket, our bodies pull the plug and empty it. However, what is happening more and more in this modern world, is there are far more toxins coming in than our bodies are able to deal with, and over time, what ends up happening is we start to overflow the bucket, cue symptoms. Which can present in many different forms. It is important to note that in regard to parasites, it’s not perhaps all bad, though it is a complex subject, there is evidence that we can benefit having small levels of certain parasites in our guts, (4) however when the gut becomes unbalanced, and the parasites get out of control, that is when our health can begin to decline.
The moral of this story is, there are many people suffering with skin conditions, that are potentially not a condition of the skin, they are a condition of the gut. The skin is the window to your body, telling you what is happening on the inside. By simply treating the skin, we are not treating the root cause, which is imperative to getting on top of your conditions and giving you back a life you love.
If you would like to learn more about how we may be able to help you begin healing your gut, your skin issues, or your food intolerances, please get in touch with us using the contact us form located at the bottom of the homepage.
"Skincare is not simply superficial, because it is healthcare. When you have glowing skin, it is a sign that you have a healthy body."
Emily
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