Success story: Avene Cicalfate

Reproduced from reddit.com:

I’ve been meaning to write this for a while. I actually read about the product that completely alleviated all my symptoms of SD here on reddit a while ago. Let me begin with who I am and how it affected me. I am 24 year old guy, quite active and sporty so I always found myself sweating a lot while exercising and thought that the excess oil produced by my skin was the cause to SD – which it may be, I don’t know, but I don’t think it is since SD always appears whether or not I’m exercising.

I tried absolutely everything listed as I’m sure everyone here has as it is such a resilient little problem. The first few things I tried didn’t really help, I read somewhere Jojoba oil would help. It absolutely did not, nor did any moisturizers which I was constantly told to use and found they did nothing but irritate my skin. Sudocream helped quite a bit, most likely because of the zinc oxide in it. The only problem with that was the thick paste would merge with the flakes on my skin and I found it so hard to get off that I would have to scrub quite hard to get it off which in turn would irritate the skin once again.

I went to the doctor and got Hydrocortisone with a ketoconazole 2% shampoo which seemed to work great for the first week, but shortly after I stopped using the hydrocortisone all the symptoms reoccurred despite continuing to use the ketoconazole which offered no help by itself. I always used head and shoulders and used it all over my face especially where the rash and flaking was most prominent i.e. my eyebrows, cheeks and nose but again it didn’t really help at all.

I tried a zinc based soap and found a small reduction in the symptons but not enough to alleviate the problem. The sea-salt in warm water again didn’t work for me, it just stung my face and caused it to become redder and extremely dry.

Reluctantly, I changed my diet because I read that this is huge factor in your flair ups and it is likely dairy is involved – I didn’t find any change in my SD symptoms from cutting dairy out of my diet for a few weeks.

Finally, I read about a cream which was meant to work and thought why not I’ve tried every other cream, after applying it day and night after washing my face for about 3-4 days all my symptoms were gone. No ithching. No flaking. No red unsightly rash. I use this product now once every night and rub it into the skin on my face which would normally have been affected by SD and for the last 3 months I have never once had a sympton. My seborrheic dermatitis was gone.

So what was the cream? Avene Cicalfate repair cream. It is a zinc oxide based cream and I think that is the main ingredient in beating SD!

I wanted to share my experience with SD because I know my confidence suffered because of it and wanted to help anyone that has it. This cream worked wonders for me and it is at least worth a try! Good luck everyone!

What science says

Looking at the list of ingredients of Avene Cicalfate Repair Cream, the two Zinc-based substances stand out as active ingredients. The Zinc sulfate is the main anti-microbial component, while Zinc Oxide is the main skin-protecting agent. The latter is also known to be an efficient anti-fungal ingredient and is often used in anti-dandruff shampoos (dandruff is considered a mild form of seborrheic dermatitis). This scientific article in the Journal of Dermatology Research and Practice summarizes the studies that show the effectiveness of zinc for seborrheic dermatitis.

Zinc Therapy in Dermatology: A Review

Mrinal Gupta, Vikram K. Mahajan, Karaninder S. Mehta, and Pushpinder S. Chauhan

Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Leprosy, Dr. R. P. Govt. Medical College, Kangra (Tanda), Himachal Pradesh 176001, India

Received 1 May 2014; Accepted 23 June 2014; Published 10 July 2014

Abstract: Zinc, both in elemental or in its salt forms, has been used as a therapeutic modality for centuries. Topical preparations like zinc oxide, calamine, or zinc pyrithione have been in use as photoprotecting, soothing agents or as active ingredient of antidandruff shampoos. Its use has expanded manifold over the years for a number of dermatological conditions including infections (leishmaniasis, warts), inflammatory dermatoses (acne vulgaris, rosacea), pigmentary disorders (melasma), and neoplasias (basal cell carcinoma). Although the role of oral zinc is well-established in human zinc deficiency syndromes including acrodermatitis enteropathica, it is only in recent years that importance of zinc as a micronutrient essential for infant growth and development has been recognized. The paper reviews various dermatological uses of zinc.