Desperately need help with eyebrow seborrhea!

[Jose77]

HEY dmm and desperado! What a coincidence. Ok I got a lot to say.

I made those comments some time ago and just by Google ran into this thread again. If you guys are serious and want to share information (since the 3 of us seem to have the same thing) I highly recommend we talk through email as it is a far more reliable way to communicate as opposed to wondering if your message was seen on a forum and waiting for someone who may not ever answer. Let's trade emails so that we can reach each other when we have to.

Yes, this is super depressing stuff. I still suffer from eyebrow loss and have the white gunk after showers. My eyebrows though rarely itch now and the redness has improved. It has gotten better due to a lot of different stuff I've been trying but can we first see what in the world is causing this? Let's share our history and perhaps we can isolate and find out what is causing this. Based on the research I've done (and I've done a lot) these are the things about me that can be causing this issue:

1. Used to eat a lot of junk food during college (a ton). I never eat junk food now.
2. Poor digestion and bowel movement (I used to sleep right after eating and also see #1). My bowel movement is regular now due to my new diet habits.
3. I get poor sleep caused by a congested nose every night. Unfortunately I still have this.
4. I took antibiotics for about a week when I had very bad pneumonia. Have never taken antibiotics since.
5. I might have mold/fungus issues in my body as I inhaled the mold spores from my dormitory (dorm/college = long time ago, like 8 years ago).
6. I have mercury amalgams/fillings. 3 of em, but now 2 since I just removed my biggest one.

^ Based on my research, any one of these, or a combination of these things about me that I listed can cause the issue I have. Please list your "possible causes" list too so that we can possibly compare and isolate the root cause of our eyebrow issue. It can't hurt. Right now we need to share info.

I do believe after all I've read that this is an allergic reaction. I also believe my congested nose at night is also due to an allergic reaction. The flaking skin, the redness/inflammation, the nose congestion, the occasional red bumps on my finger (disappears in 2-3 days, comes about once every 6 months?)... these things all suggest an allergic reaction of some kind. My best guess is due to Candida overgrowth.

Hello, FiletMignon, were you able to find a solution to this problem? I am also dealing with this.

[tom6195]

Guys I'm at my wit's end with this and am growing seriously depressed.

My eyebrows look ridiculous hairs are falling out every day

I've resorted to using a fine pen just to try and make my eyebrows look equal.

Please please please give me some tips as to how to fight this.

[Rainykite]

I also suffer from this for 6 months now! My eyebrows started doing this after I used a hair growth serum called EyEnvy, followed by coconut oil... This is a nightmare! As I feel very disconnected from myself since this has happened. My eyebrows get built up white skin underneath which then turn into scales, if the scales are removed so are the hairs. I once did a hardcore 1 hour exercise session which caused me to have an angry red rash in my eyebrows afterwards... However the white skin build up underneath them disappeared. This lasted for 2 months and then the white thick scales came back! I have tried lots of things. My eyebrows have decreased by 50% so far. I have tried - steroid creams, zinc spray, Ketoconazole, ACV, tea tree, dandruff shampoos, sunlight, oral Itraconazole, protopic, Dead Sea salt soaks, garlic, vitamins (Quercetin, turmeric, biotin, zinc, omega 3, flax seed oil - which caused major acne!) I have always ate healthy, been active, positive person but I decided to take it to the next level and even did a juice cleanse followed by cleanse meals...did not do anything besides weight loss. I have had blood work done and my thyroid is normal. I am 26 years old and I don't even know how to live my life normally anymore. Another awful thing is that I was misdiagnosed with periorbital dermatitis which I know is around the mouth?! However my doctor told me that it can occur anywhere on the face and to avoid using any cleansers or moisturizers for a week. I have no idea why I listened to him or thought this would be a good idea because in doing that, the seb derm has spread to my forehead, nose, and cheeks... Like once it was activated in my brows and having dry skin for a whole week it spread like freaking wildfire man. My face was completely healthy before this! I have seen 3 dermatologists since. With there being no cure this leaves me completely hopeless because I haven't even had the joy of having this be in reminission either so far. Just put me out of my misery. Has anybody had any luck at all on this?! Anybody? I haven't read one success story for eyebrows. Talk about a depression overload.

[Rainykite]

I also suffer from this for 6 months now! My eyebrows started doing this after I used a hair growth serum called EyEnvy, followed by coconut oil... This is a nightmare! As I feel very disconnected from myself since this has happened. My eyebrows get built up white skin underneath which then turn into scales, if the scales are removed so are the hairs. I once did a hardcore 1 hour exercise session which caused me to have an angry red rash in my eyebrows afterwards... However the white skin build up underneath them disappeared. This lasted for 2 months and then the white thick scales came back! I have tried lots of things. My eyebrows have decreased by 50% so far. I have tried - steroid creams, zinc spray, Ketoconazole, ACV, tea tree, dandruff shampoos, sunlight, oral Itraconazole, protopic, Dead Sea salt soaks, garlic, vitamins (Quercetin, turmeric, biotin, zinc, omega 3, flax seed oil - which caused major acne!) I have always ate healthy, been active, positive person but I decided to take it to the next level and even did a juice cleanse followed by cleanse meals...did not do anything besides weight loss. I have had blood work done and my thyroid is normal. I am 26 years old and I don't even know how to live my life normally anymore. Another awful thing is that I was misdiagnosed with periorbital dermatitis which I know is around the mouth?! However my doctor told me that it can occur anywhere on the face and to avoid using any cleansers or moisturizers for a week. I have no idea why I listened to him or thought this would be a good idea because in doing that, the seb derm has spread to my forehead, nose, and cheeks... Like once it was activated in my brows and having dry skin for a whole week it spread like freaking wildfire man. My face was completely healthy before this! I have seen 3 dermatologists since. With there being no cure this leaves me completely hopeless because I haven't even had the joy of having this be in reminission either so far. Just put me out of my misery. Has anybody had any luck at all on this?! Anybody? I haven't read one success story for eyebrows. Talk about a depression overload.

[Tom Busby]

Hi Rainy, thickened skin under the eyebrows, with slow flaking, indicates an abundance of malassezia, and what I call an allergic reaction to malassezia. Malassezia is dimorphic (has 2 forms) and is a fungus, which can form a rooting (hyphal) phase that penetrates the stratum corneum (it's sticky), and that probably forms a biofilm with your own keratin and skin oils.

Biofilms are usually considered 10 to 100 times more difficult to treat than a free-floating (sessile or planktonic) agent. In practical terms, you would need to use a daily treatment for 10 months, with an effective antifungal like climbazole, found in E45 or Hegor 150 shampoos, which are sold only on eBay or Amazon, assuming you live in the US. There is no USP Final Monograph for climbazole, so there aren't any OTC products sold in the US, but it's legal to buy them from overseas. These are not leave-on products and contain sodium laurel sulfate or variations on SLS, and will cause skin irritation if you try to use them as a leave-on product. Lotrimin Ultra is OTC in the US, and you could try that as a leave-on, as some have reported good results using it as an anti-fungal against malassezia. To repeat, treatment will be about 10 months.

Adding 2% xylitol powder to OTC products is thought to reduce biofilm formation. Xylitol likely does not remove biofilms, but can help prevent their formation. Xylitol is water soluble and easily added to any aqueous OTC product.

Your bad reaction to coconut oil also indicates that it fed malassezia, and caused malassezia to grow rapidly. Malassezia consumes all oils found in nature, from every plant, nut. fruit, or seed, so the only "good" oils are Vaseline and MCT oil -- try one or both of these as a moisturizer.

However, an abundance of malassezia or allergic reaction to malassezia does not cause hair loss. Hair loss indicates a co-existing condition -- perhaps demodex are chewing through the hair, because demodex is an arachnid with chewing mouth parts. Demodex can be suppressed or eradicated with Soolantra, ivermectin paste 1.87% from Tractor Supply Corp or others, or with piroctone olamine. Treatment would be about 90 to 120 days, daily, and then another 6 to 8 months for the hair to grow back, if it does.

This is very brief summary, and if you have questions the best way to proceed is to use google to search for answers. There's a lot of information on this forum. Your own experience with derms confirms the necessity of educating yourself, instead of relying on others. In particular, you may have a 3rd co-existing condition that you will need to be alert to.

Have a plan of action, and stick to it. Patience is very important, as there aren't any overnight cures. Try one thing for a month, and look closely for improvement, or worsening. Don't try everything under the Sun at once.

Also, do a test patch on the crook of your arm to see if there's a reaction -- usually redness will show up if you are allergic to any of the components in a product.

[Rainykite]

Tom, thank you for all of the information. I have been doing countless research on the Internet and I am well aware of malassezia and Demodex. I am trying everything faithfully and within time and recording all of my progress in a journal. As it has been 6 months for me already with this condition. I understand that oils feed the fungus however before I knew what Seborrheic Dermatitis even was... (when I first broke out with this reaction), I obviously did not expect this to be the outcome. My moisturizer is oil free and SLS free as well. I live in Canada where lotrimin ultra is not available here, however I ordered it on eBay one week ago and it should be here within good time ;)! I also just purchased a new moisturizer which contains Thermal Dermobiotic, Piroctone Olamine, and Zinc. I am hoping I have good success with this. I have read that the most effective treatment for Demodex is tea tree oil which I just recently started applying to the brows. The reason my hair falls out is from me trying to remove the white/slightly yellow looking skin scales which obviously forms on the skin, therefore covering some areas of the base of the hair. I do not expect anybody on here to figure this out for me I just posted here specifically because this form seemed to be the most common for the affected eyebrows. Unfortunately, I do not know if the other members have had success so far or not. I also did read about Xylitol as I have been trying to gather more research about this but it seems information is very limited for that treatment. I will look into the Shampoo you suggested as well. I am very weary buying products off of Amazon or EBay due to altering products but will if it is a reliable seller. I have also done research where success stories come from resolving the issue internally such as the gut, what are your thoughts about this? And do you believe that hormones or genetics are to blame at all? As for the 3rd type of party skin issue you say, what exactly do you mean by this as well? From the 3 dermatologists that I have seen, they all told me I had SD. Thanks

[Rainykite]

P.s. My doctor who I had seen at the beginning of all of this is the one who misdiagnosed me, this was before I even knew what SD was, however I did know what perioral dermatitis was because my niece has it. When he diagnosed me with PD i questioned him about it but he assured me it can affect any area on the face. I did research and I did see strains of it affecting people in other areas of the face. I read success stories of leaving the face alone and their PD clearing up. After about a week of doing this, I noticed it was getting worse and therefore I followed up with my doctor and he told me to cancel my holiday and that I'm in a very ****ty situation (very professional). When I asked for a referral to a derm he refused to refer me for months. After a long time he finally referred me and he completely lied in the referral letter to my derm.
Another thing I forgot to mention is that while I was on Protopic, I did get side effects that the pharmacist and derm told me would go away, which it never did and after stopping use of it, I still am suffering from the side effects (2 months ago)