Symptoms
Facial patchy redness with small bumps and slight scaling on the chin, or just lateral to the mouth, nose, or eyes. Perioral dermatitis is a common skin disorder that often affects women more than men. Strong steroids such as OTC 1% hydrocortisone will make it spread.
Recovery
Dr. Harlan typically treats his teenage patients for perioral dermatitis by having them apply SmartLotion® 2x per day for up to 2 weeks.
He also instructs them to apply cold, icy compression to the affected area for 3 minutes after applying SmartLotion®.
For severe cases, Dr. Harlan often prescribes an antibiotic product that works alongside the SmartLotion®. Oral doxycycline and erythromycin antibiotic therapy are two of Dr. Harlan's favorite choices for this.
For anyone with perioral dermatitis, Dr. Harlan says you must stop the use of strong steroid creams.
As long as the patient sees improvement during the initial 2 weeks, after 2 weeks he typically recommends tapering down to 1x per day for 2 weeks. The rate of tapering should vary based on how quickly the rash is healing.
Prevention
After initial control and tapering, Dr. Harlan recommends his patients adopt a long term routine that works for them. Some patients require 1 application per day, and some only require 3 applications per week.
This is why long-term safety was so important to Dr. Harlan when he formulated SmartLotion®. For whatever maintenance schedule his patients require, he wanted to ensure that there would be no chance of side effects. Rest assured, SmartLotion® is 100% safe for long term use, as demonstrated in his peer-reviewed safety study.