Going crazy with my skin

[Worriedsickmostofthetime]

So putting this here for traction and opinion.
I have chronic itchy ‘bites’ on my face but most particularly my jaw line.
The itching is keeping me awake at night and my skin looks terrible.
I have been to a dermatologist who took out his magnifying glass and declared that I am being bitten by something. This gives you an indication that the ‘bites’ are individual bumps.
I have replaced our bed, bought new linen, fumigated the house and go to bed with a citronella cream on my face. I am desperate. But I am still getting ‘bitten’.

I am starting to think that the dermatologist was wrong. My husband sleeps next to me and does not have a similar experience. But what else could it be?

They are not flat welts but more pronounced. The bites (and I’m going to keep calling them that for lack of a better description) are definitely more prevalent on my jawline and sometimes (like now) in my hairline near my ears and in my eyebrows. Initially it made sense that perhaps it was mosquitoes as it only affected my exposed body part (ie my head) and the rest of my body was under covers at night. But again, no visible mosquitoes and nothing on my arms or feet which occasionally stick out.

So what else could it be? I do have hashimotos which doesn’t really bother me otherwise and I just take my Eltroxin daily for and check my blood levels annually for. I am in perimenopause so maybe related? I don’t think I have any food intolerances that I know of.

It is affecting my day to day life. Any other suggestions? I am making another appointment with amother dermatologist but was hoping maybe someone could give me an ah-ha moment in case I haven’t thought of something.

I don’t have an answer unfortunately OP, but I didn’t want to read and run. It sounds frustrating and annoying! Also to add that since hitting perimenopause my skin has started behaving differently at times. It’s drier and more sensitive, gets the occasional dermatitis when I used to never do, as a reaction to things. I hope someone comes along with more useful info for you!

Is the itching worse at night? I'm wondering if it's scabies. It can take a while for the mites to migrate to other areas of the body and then spread to other people.

I seem to have a flare up which appears during the night and I wake up with itchy bites. I take cortisone and it calms down only to reappear in a day or two.
I’ve been struggling for two years at least now so doubt it would be anything like scabies.

@animalculous just did a bit of research (googling) into scabies and it seems rare to only be contained to one area like the face.

Yes, it would have affected other areas by now.

Could be demodex mitex.
Ask your GP for soolanta cream.

soolantra

That is so interesting. The symptoms appear logical. Even the sandpaper skin which I have on my forehead but thought that was just dry skin.

How is it diagnosed or do you just take the treatment and hope that you’ve got it right?

Trial with soolantra - symptoms get better then flare at 3 weeks as that's tge life cycle of demodex (the soolantra can't kill eggs until they hatch).
Think can do a skin scrape and see demodex under microscope byt GP woul't do that.
Just ask for soolantra and see if helps - apply at night. May need to use longerm as demodex live on skin routinely - but thrive on some skins more than others and cause itching/redness/rosacea.

Could it be a yeast infection/ candida on your face? I only ask because the sandpaper feeling and the feeling by your ears. Makes sense then that it has only been something you have experienced.

If so, cutting out all sugars, IF and oregano oil extract capsules really help.

@JMAngel1
i just wanted to thank you for your advice.
If I think about the things I’ve done over the last few years to address my skin problems I could cry.
Just to list a few:
Allergy tests
going egg, dairy and gluten free
homeopathy
endocrinology to balance my thyroid
living on anti histamines
sleeping with insect repellent on
house fumigation
new linen and washing my linen multiple times a week
cortisone creams and tablets
red light therapy

after all that… your suggestion of soolantra has transformed my skin in 3 weeks. I cannot begin to explain how life changing this has been for me.
thank you

@Worriedsickmostofthetime
I’m so chuffed for you. I felt the same when I went on it around 8 years ago - before then I had suffered with rosacea (very severe) for over 30 years. It ruined my life and Soolantra saved it. You couldn’t prise it out of my dead hands now!

@JMAngel1
I have just started soolantra ( three days ago ) for type 1 rosacea. (Redness, broken veins and flushing) do you think it will help with this as I heard it was more for type 2 (spots/pustules) but it’s what my doc prescribed so I’m giving it a go.

It won’t do any harm to give it a go especially if your doc has prescribed it. Give us an update here.

What an amazing update - the power of Mumsnet!

I am suffering with something similar, think it's Dermodex spread on the scalp, but my GP won't prescribe soolantra without evidence of what it is and won't do skin scraping.. How did you get them to prescribe soolantra for you?

I’m not in the UK. We have a private medical system here in South Africa. I pretty much told my doctor what I thought it was and he has happy to try. He gave both soolantra and ivermectin in tablet form.

its crazy. There is literally no harm in trying, ivermectin taken properly is very very low risk.

Makes sense! I have finally managed to get a prescription for Soolantra and now wondering how to apply the cream, since most of my itchy crawling sensation is on my scalp and hairline, although sometimes my face too, though I know it's not lice or scabies. Do you have any pointers on how to put the cream on your scalp and how long it took you to start feeling better? X

No idea how to put in on your scalp as my problem was largely on my facial skin. But just put it on I guess and get as close to the skin as possible. I did rub it close into my hairline. I guess just be prepared to wash your hair in the morning.

Use at nighttime every night as Demodex mites are active at night. You should start to see results in as little as 2 weeks. Google their life cycle, it gives you a good indication of why you need to continue. If I recall correctly soolantra works on the mites itself so any eggs laid need to hatch to then be eradicated by the medication.

I was prescribed 3 months and I still have a month left and I don’t see me using it as my problem has disappeared.

@Howmanyroses give us an update in a few weeks. I’m invested.

Thank you! Will definitely update you on how it all goes 🙂

I’d say demodex mites, it gets worse at night. You need ivermectin, think brand name is soolantra

Oops sorry, see this is what you’ve said in later posts!