Itchy face, scalp & acne

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oneday
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:58 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Itchy face, scalp & acne

Post by oneday »

For the past five years, I've been on a constant quest of trying to find the exact cause and cure for my acne. After reading about the Demodex mites, it's starting to make sense to me. My face is ALWAYS itchy. My forehead, my nose, the area right under the nostrils, my cheeks, my chin, my scalp, my back, and my chest. I just figured that the itchyness was a sign of a new pimple forming, and it probably is... but it could also be the demodex mites, right?

Luckily, even after 5 years of horrible, horrible acne and redness, I have zero scarring. I feel extremely fortunate, but I don't know if I will be so lucky anymore if my acne persists.

I ordered a month supply of Xin Fumanling cream to start out. I'm afraid of trying ZZ since it's very drying and I've already had my experience with dry skin from Benzyl Peroxide, and it was NOT fun. So, I'm going to try it safe and start out with Xin Funmanling and see how it goes.

Can the itchy factor alone be a pretty good indication that I'm suffering from Demodex mites? That and my face being red around the cheeks, forehead, nose especially, and chin?

Any replies would be greatly appreciated! :D
SteveInAustin
Posts: 206
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:24 am
Location: Austin, Texas USA

Re: Itchy face, scalp & acne

Post by SteveInAustin »

oneday wrote:For the past five years, I've been on a constant quest of trying to find the exact cause and cure for my acne. After reading about the Demodex mites, it's starting to make sense to me. My face is ALWAYS itchy. My forehead, my nose, the area right under the nostrils, my cheeks, my chin, my scalp, my back, and my chest. I just figured that the itchyness was a sign of a new pimple forming, and it probably is... but it could also be the demodex mites, right?

Luckily, even after 5 years of horrible, horrible acne and redness, I have zero scarring. I feel extremely fortunate, but I don't know if I will be so lucky anymore if my acne persists.

I ordered a month supply of Xin Fumanling cream to start out. I'm afraid of trying ZZ since it's very drying and I've already had my experience with dry skin from Benzyl Peroxide, and it was NOT fun. So, I'm going to try it safe and start out with Xin Funmanling and see how it goes.

Can the itchy factor alone be a pretty good indication that I'm suffering from Demodex mites? That and my face being red around the cheeks, forehead, nose especially, and chin?

Any replies would be greatly appreciated! :D
Yeah, the creepy crawly feelings you get on your face are most likely demodex mites. Makes sense to me anyway. I used to have that. Not anymore. I no longer have acne. Well, I'll always have acne, but the products keep it away. In fact, whenever I feel a tingle on my face that causes me to have to scratch it, I just know there will be a pimple coming real soon, and it's because of recontamination by demodex mites. So I just blast the area with ZZ cream that night, and in the morning or the next day, the pimple will start to sprout. Fortunately it only takes a few days to get rid of those kinds of pimples. And it's rare since I make sure to avoid recontamination.

Yeah, the itchiness will go away when you've gotten rid of your demodex mite problem and your acne. At least that holds true for my case.

As for drying, yes ZZ is drying especially if you use it everyday, which you should be doing in the beginning. (Later on when you go on the maintenance dosage you only use it once every other night, but that's only after you're 100% clear.)

So what you should do is to use the medicated XFML cream in the daytime. Either that or wear a moisturizer. The XFML cream acts like a moisturizer, actually. If you have dry, peeling skin, the cream will make it look a lot better. Just like a moisturizer would.

You can also buy yourself some packing tape and apply it to your face after you've showered and dried off. It will peel your dead skin off so it doesn't look bad. And it's cheap. Then you apply the XFML cream after that.

Your face probably won't be red from the creams. If so, you're either putting too much on or you're allergic to the ingredients. You probably get a red face from benzoyl peroxide, however. Most people have that reaction to BP, especially those who are allergic to BP like I am. The ZZ and XFML products are nowhere near as bad BP for me anyway. BP feels like it's burning your skin.

I did find that the XFML cream caused my neck to turn red and itch, however. So I just didn't apply it there, and it was fine. Strangely enough I could apply it on my face without problems. Just not my neck.

Everyone is different, though. So you may not react at all.

If you don't have any allergies to the ZZ cream, I recommend buying about 3-6 months of the product and committing to the program for that long. One month isn't going to be enough time to see if it works or not. In fact, you'll probably begin to have a major break-out that will start on day 5 and last through to the next month of treatment. So you might wrongfully conclude that your one month trial showed that it just made things get worse. Nope, things will get worse before they get better. That initial period of time is where you're killing off all the mites, so naturally you'll breakout more. But after that, things will start to clear. Takes about 3 months really, at least. With me it took about 4-5 months before I was nearly 100% clear of acne.

Pick yourself up the medicated XFML creams, too.

And make sure to avoid recontamination.

Steve
Austin, Texas USA
Maria
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:15 pm

Post by Maria »

And make sure to avoid recontamination.

Steve
Austin, Texas USA
Steve, I was just wondering whether you had any good tips fpr avoiding recontamination? to what lengths do you go to regarding this?


Maria.
SteveInAustin
Posts: 206
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:24 am
Location: Austin, Texas USA

Post by SteveInAustin »

To prevent recontamination, the golden rule is to make sure nothing touches your face ever. Or at least minimize it as much as possible.

So think about that throughout your day. Count how many times your face touches something else. It may surprise you.

What I do: I change my pillow cases everyday. I keep a stack of 7 of them and just wash them all once a week... I wash my face twice a day at least, once in the morning and once in the evening. I also wash my face after sweating, typically after exercising. I found that if I postponed washing my face after exercising until later, I would break out. That's because the mites get carried from sweat on the scalp to your face and back... When I dry my face, I always use a clean, dry washcloth. So that means having at least 14 washcloths... I always clean my electric shaver in alcohol (there are special shavers that do this for you)... I try not to touch my face at all during the day. If I have to touch my face, sometimes I use a q-tip or a piece of tissue paper so I don't end up touching my face with my hands... And I use the ZZ cream once every two days at night (the maintenance program).

That's basically it. It sounds like a lot of stuff to go through, but it's not. It has become completely routine for me.

Steve
Austin, Texas USA
Maria
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:15 pm

Post by Maria »

Very helpful, thanks alot :D
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