Soolantra

Hi Everyone !!! I am new to this forum . I wanted to let you guys know my experience with Soolantra . First off I have been to two derms already . My first derm said I have SD . I was treated with Elidel over a year ago and it took about 6 weeks for my face to clear . This past summer I had a huge flare due to some stressful events that had happened to me . Because of this I had to go on prednisone , xanax , and Levaquin . The steroid I took for 3 week total, Levaquin 10 days and Xanax 5 weeks . I never went back on those meds due to my condition cleared . Anyway , not sure if any of those meds made things worse but at that time I just could not deal with m y face so I did not start using my Elidel till almost 2 months after this . In that time I was just washing my face with derma doctor born to be mild cleanser . It seemed to be helping . then all of a sudden it seemed my face was getting more red . So at that time I stopped my derma doctor cleanser and started the Elidel . That I was using for 5 weeks . It was not getting better . So I went to see my derm . He gave me desonide to use 2 x daily for 7 days . That did not help much . Came off of that . He gave me pills to take for 7 days . Its a long name but I think they were called Ketoconocazole . After 7 days still no improvement . I still had redness , flaking skin that seemed dry and a burning sensation on my face . My you I do not have dry skin , I tend to be oily . Have been all my life . So in the mean time my insurance changed . thats why I had to go see a new derm .
I made an appt and got in pretty quick . only had to wait 4 weeks . So this new derm said he thinks I have Rosacea . he said it still could be SD , just a very bad case . But thinks its Rosacea due to my looks , fair skin , blue eyes , blonde hair . Anyway he gave me a sample tube of Soolantra . I tried it for 3 days . By day 3 my redness was getting worse and It felt like i had 2 tiny hives appearing near my jaw line . That evening I did not apply any more Soolantra . I woke up the next morning to a very itchy face . It was not as red and the hives seemed to have gone down so I was pretty happy . But then later that evening my rash seemed to flair back up . So I put zero anything on my face . I called my derm that very next morning . He called in a wash for me which is sulfur 5 % / sulfacetamide 10 % . I have been using that now for a total of 3 1/2 weeks and finally my face seems to be improving !!! Not 100% but much better than before . I have a follow up with my derm in 2 weeks . So we will see how things go . I hope this will help some body and if anyone has any thoughts / opinions they want to share please do ! I am still confused as to weather I have SD , Rosacea or both . But at this point I am just looking for relief . Not sure why the Soolantra was such a flop because alot of people seem to have very good luck with it . Thanks for reading smile:

Soolantra is ivermectin,it kills demodex. The fact that your face became worse at first is normal,although usually this worsening happens later,on weeks 3 and 6. It lasts a few days and then the skin gradually clears. It's called the die off effect and is a sign that the treatment is working. Sulfur kills demodex too, so either way I think that you are on the right track.

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Originally Posted by MariaSt

Soolantra is ivermectin,it kills demodex. The fact that your face became worse at first is normal,although usually this worsening happens later,on weeks 3 and 6. It lasts a few days and then the skin gradually clears. It's called the die off effect and is a sign that the treatment is working. Sulfur kills demodex too, so either way I think that you are on the right track.

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Your kidding ???? OMG !!! I did not know this . Here I thought I was having some kind of reaction to the darn Soolantra !!!! So sulfur kills demodex too ? Good ! What about the sulfacetamide ? My derm suggested a biopsy if things did not clear up . I really dont want to have to go through that . Do you feel I definetly have demodex issues then ?

Sulfacetamide contains sulfur and is used for demodex too. Look at this article for example http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16190988. Sulfur is quite effective in eradicating demodex, the only downside is that it can be drying and irritating for some people. I think that your reaction to Soolantra either proves that you have demodex issues, or that you are allergic to Soolantra. If you want to be sure about the last one, do a patch test.

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Originally Posted by dram

I feel that I have looked at so many rosacea studies over the years. Here is the experiment that I would like to see. I would like to see someone placed on 0.3 mg/kg of isotretinoin (I know it has gotten a bad rep and women who may have children have to be very careful, but low dose cmi (continuous micro dose isotretinoin has very low side effects and are comparable to placebo), and also use finacea during the day and ivermectin before bed. As always, use of a sunblock moisturizer for sensitive skin during the day as well. Vbeam used for several sessions to reduce amount of blood vessels and inflammation. I bet PPR would be a distant memory:)

I feel that isotretinoin hasn't gotten the attention that it deserves (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3175801/). Ivermectin looks like it's helping a lot of people who were resistant to alternate modes of treatment, but I bet these patients have demodex folliculitis and not rosacea.

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I am with you on the Iso. I think the micro dose you mention could completely eradicate any inflammatory bumps. Problem is Iso has such a long history of side effects and such, and every Derm I've been to immediately dismisses the idea of prescribing me low-dose Iso for my condition.

What do you mean demodex FOLLICULITIS? Do you mean the difference between the two types of demodex? This would makes sense for why Soolantra works for me if I do indeed have the demodex folliculitis because my bumps are generally smaller than big rosacea lesions that standard Demodex induced sufferers get.

Demodex folliculitis is a term that derms are using now for people who they feel have signs of rosacea that is caused mores by the demodex mites. Basically, they are thinking that PPR may need to be broken down into subcategories, or demodex folliculitis is completely separate from rosacea...I'm sure more will come of this in time with further research.

The thing that is confusing me is , I do not have acne on my face and the sulfur / sulfacetamide wash has greatly taken away my redness . And with Rosacea , I thought your redness does not go away ? I do have alot of signs of Rosacea but not all . The Soolantra just seemed to make my face more red like it was aggravating it unsure:

Everything can make your face worse at first before it gets better, you would be more certain about the effects of Soolantra, if you used it for longer time. What is the name of the face wash you use,btw?

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Originally Posted by MariaSt

Sulfacetamide contains sulfur and is used for demodex too. Look at this article for example http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16190988. Sulfur is quite effective in eradicating demodex, the only downside is that it can be drying and irritating for some people. I think that your reaction to Soolantra either proves that you have demodex issues, or that you are allergic to Soolantra. If you want to be sure about the last one, do a patch test.

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I threw out the sample tube so I cant patch test :( I am not sure what happened . It almost seemed like the Soolantra was agravating my skin . Making it a bit more red and feeling itchy . So this is why after 3 days only I felt it was a reaction . Because like you said the die off usually takes 3 weeks or so .
At first I thought my flaking was drying from the sulfur was but after 2 weeks my skin seemed not as dry . So then I realized it was not drying , it was my skin flaking more from my condition . I still have a bit of flaking but not as much . I use the wash 2 x a day now . At first I was only using it once a day at first .
The thing that is so confusing to me is I really do not have any acne on my face ? Just normal pimples on my chin from hormones that comes every month . My face still gets a burning sensation which is annoying . But looks wise , nobody see's any thing wrong with it . Family , friends , even the derm asked me was this my worse redness when I went for my first appt . I said yes .

Its just a white bottle that says sulfur / sulfacetamide was and the % . Its by Acella . RX only . But I live in the US so we need a RX for most medicine .
I quit the Soolantra because I got freaked !! I did not want to wake up one morning to look in the mirror with a horrible outcome . I read some reviews on web MD I believe and some people also had a similar experience with this medicine . And They used it a week or more saying they should of stopped sooner . So I guess this played a role in me stopping when I did too . Plus when I called my derms office , the nurse on the phone said it sounded like a reaction . Because I asked her if anyone else experiences this first . She said NO . All the patients start clearing , with none of these effects . So that why I threw out the tube . So I can not even patch test :(