Just starting with the ZZ cream and a couple of questions...

[yumecouk]

hi,
after battling rosacea for a few years and trying a million things, i have decided to start with the ZZ cream. I have so far applied it only on one patch on the right side of my face as i want to see how bad it is going to get before i apply all over my face (i have read all stories and testimonials so i am familiar with the potential side effects). I have a couple of questions which i hope someone can answer:
1. What if one's rosacea is not from demodex? what are the potential risks of using the ZZ cream on non-demodex skin? For example, after 3 days of use, my patch is red, dry, itchy and pimply. Assuming i have no demodex problem (but i hope i do), am i simply making my rosacea worse with this cream?
2. I also have seb derm. Anyone has any experience about ZZ and seb derm?
3. My patch strategy: could this work if i just slowly make my patch bigger and bigger or the mites around the patch nullify the action?
thanks!
eric

[yumecouk]

well, i started with the ZZ cream at night, only on a patch on my right cheek between eye and temple. 4 nights later and my skin is a total mess. I have never seen my skin like this, it's red, dry, itchy with papules, pustules and whiteheads...
I have read what others have experienced so i will continue but the thought that haunts me is: what if i don't have mites and i am just messing up my skin (i have an underlying seb derm and eczema condition)?

[Walter]

hello

Persons with rosacea, especially if the disease is there already a long time and already many products used
can have very very sensitive skin, please start very slowly, if every night is too much then use every 2 or 3 nights,
apply just a tiny tiny bit, it is really not necessary to use a lot, most easy is too use on a slightly damp skin like just after washing.
Stop a couple of days treating now and then start again very very slowly.
Hopefully your skin will become less sensitive again in time which is most of the time the case.
The outbreaks, papules, pustules and whiteheads... is normal and actually a proof you have a demodex mite problem,
It is because by killing the mites this happens.

Walter

[yumecouk]

thanks Walter for your answer. It has been about 9 days and the reaction seems a bit less. However, i see no indication that it is helping my skin as my skin is still much worse than before. However, i will definitively continue to see what happens.

Do you or anyone else have any view on what the Z cream can do to Seb Derm? If it kills the mites, does this mean that it could also kill the yeast of seb derm?

thanks,
eric

[Jimmy]

I doubt anyone can give you a definite answer but i'd say its a decent assumption. Some of the active components of the ZZ cream include Sulfur and Boric Acid both of which are anti-fungal as well as being insecticides.

[yumecouk]

i guess i will find out.
It has been 2 weeks exactly since my first application and i still see no indication that the ZZ cream is helping. However, my skin seems to be getting used to the cream as it no longer burns when i apply it, the redness has subsided a bit, and the dryness and peeling is also less. However, i still have about 15 papules in an area where usually 4 or 5 would appear. So my patch is clearly looking worse than before i started. But it's only been 2 weeks and i am comforted by the fact that it is now much easier to go about things since the right side of my face no longer looks like a volcano.

[Walter]

hello

It takes time, two weeks in nothing, try to be patient and we will see
after a couple of months how it is going.

Walter

[yumecouk]

3 weeks in: reaction is less and less. Skin is still redder than before i started using the cream, tighter and more flaky. The papules are also still visible but not as much.
So still no indication that the cream is helping overall but initial reaction has clearly diminished.

[yumecouk]

1 month report: skin looks calmer now but still redder and dryer than before the treatment. However, i finally have one indication that the cream may be helping. I had a bad breakout this week, and my ZZ patch seems to have broken out with less intensity than the rest of my face. So on i go....

[yumecouk]

5 weeks update: bad week. ZZ area is reacting: redder with a few papules; and of course, still very dry and flaky. Except for the very small indication i had last week, i so far have received no signal that i am on the right track. This is getting hard. I have read some of the posts on this forum and it seems that most people have at least some indication that the cream is helping after one month, enough to know that they must keep going....still, i will keep going...might as well. Also, i just ordered the Acarid soap and will give it a shot...Perhaps it will help speed up the process.

[Walter]

I know it is difficult but don't give up, the goal is to eliminate demodex mites right?
that takes time, only when the most are gone and their debris is out of your skin
you will get improvement.
It works different then most medicines, people are used now to have fast result,
you know, take a couple of pills and gone .....
only after eliminating the mites, your skin can improve and this takes time.
If you read the forum, you will find many persons who where in your situation,
some even where clear only after one year but they are happy they did not give up.
I don't want to say that it will take one year for you now, I just try to explain so you understand
how the treatment works.
It took for myself 3 months before I had some result.......................

Walter

[yumecouk]

6 weeks update: thanks Walter for the encouragement. I need it. I will keep going, i just wished that i had received some signs that i am on the right track...
Skin is better than last week but still worse than before i started the treatment...i think i keep enlarging my patch accidentally when i apply the cream. On this note, i wonder if anyone has a view on the following: ever since i started applying the cream to a patch on the right side of my face, the entire right side of my face is breaking out more than the left side. Am i being paranoid, or is it possible that mites are like...jumping? Maybe it is a coincidence but even on my forehead where i barely use any of the cream (only towards my right eyebrow), the ride side of my forehead has been breaking out and the left a lot less....weird...

[LinzLou]

hi, just wondering how your treatment is going now? i hope it's gotten better. I myself have not started the treatment yet as i am pregnant and in pregnancy your skin become even more sensitive so i am going to wait until i have delivered and gotten back to normal. Good luck

[yumecouk]

hi, 7.5 weeks update: no positive changes. This is starting to drive me mad. I have not seen one indication yet that i am on the right path...based on the other thread, i would have thought that by now i would have noticed something that told me to keep going...on the contrary, the test skin is still worse than the skin without the cream....i guess i will keep going until i have reached 3 months...better be good then...

[yumecouk]

8 weeks: i am annoyed. No changes, my skin is still reacting and it still look worse than before. How do you keep going when there has been no signs so far that it is helping? Worse, how do you keep going longer when your skin is actually worse than it was at the start?