Update: That stubborn case of perioral dermatitis took me 8 weeks to clear up

A new client came in with what looked like standard rosacea, but it was perioral dermatitis. I started with my usual calming routine, but it just got angrier. After 3 weeks of no progress, I had to stop all actives completely, even the gentle ones. We switched to just a zinc cream and plain thermal water spray for a full month before her skin finally calmed down. Has anyone else had a client where you had to basically do nothing to get results?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.paul20d ago

Ngl, it's wild how often the fix is just stopping everything. I saw something similar where the person was over washing with a 'gentle' cleanser, and that was the main problem. The skin barrier was just shot. Sometimes the best tool is telling someone to leave their face alone for a few weeks, even if it feels wrong.

jamiew5319d ago

My old derm in Chicago always pushed a 10-step routine. I spent years layering serums and acids until my face was red and tight. Seeing results from just using water and a basic moisturizer for a month completely flipped my view.

victorhill19d ago

Man, I feel this so hard. My skin was a mess until I cut down to just a cleanser and lotion. All that extra stuff was just making it angry.