Perioral Dermatitis on an 11 year old.

[Afternooninthepark]

DD has had this for about 3 months and it’s getting her down.
Obviously I don’t want to try anything too harsh on her young skin. We’ve tried apple cider vinegar which seemed to work for a bit but dried the skin too much. Then I read zinc and calendula cream is good, tried that but again it’s very drying and the white zinc shows up too much which she is conscious of. It’s now slightly spreading around her mouth and as she has just started secondary school she worries people are going to notice.
Any advice?

Try a good barrier cream such as sudocrem at night

Change her toothpaste to one that doesn’t contain sulphates (SLS) before trying anything too drying.
Caroline Hirons mentions it at the beginning of this video
www.carolinehirons.com/2019/08/empties-hair-body-and-others-august-2019.html

Ask a pharmacist for something. They will possibly recommend a hydrocortisone cream.

Was just going to suggest looking at your toothpaste. This caused problems with my son's mouth, and developed dermatitis. A more natural one might help.

I get this sometimes and use Canesten to clear it up. I have read that hydrocortisone can make it worse so I would avoid that.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I had heard fluoride can exacerbate it. I’ll get a natural one tomorrow.

Go to doc and get antibiotics. Just cream might do the trick, if it's the first outbreak.
Do NOT use cortisone on it, it will make it worse.

The fluoride in the toothpaste won't be causing the perioral dermatitis. Never heard that one before. The dose is extremely low. However sodium laureate sulphate, (SLS), which is a foaming agent frequently found in toothpastes might be a possible culprit. You can pick an SLS free toothpaste and see if that makes a difference, some of the sensodyne range might be SLS free, but I'd definitely use one with fluoride.
Perioral dermatitis is commonly caused by dry lips and lip licking. A good barrier cream at night can help, and drinking plenty of water.
I'd avoid steroid creams if you can, unless it gets really bad.
Sometimes fusidin cream can be helpful as it's anti-bacterial, if there is an infection.

Ask go for a referral to a dermatologist - I was prescribed Protopic for mine and it's made a huge difference

I get this every so often in damp winter weather & sudocreme at night gets rid of it.

Really, please don't use steroids even if it gets bad. Steroids actually cause perioral dermatitis. Yes, the cream would help temporarity, but the dermatitis will come back with vengance. I have a permanently darker spot on my chin now, because a clueless doc kept prescribing me steroids for my PD when I was a teenager.
www.healthline.com/health/perioral-dermatitis