Rosacea Support Community

Back in August, David Pascoe wrote an article about Promiseb, that's how I learned about this cream. Since it's a non-steroidal cream, I asked my dermatologist for a sample which I started using just over two weeks ago.

My seb derm is very mild and I've been keeping it at bay with natural remedies but, every month, thanks to perimenopause, I will have some scalp/face itching for a few days. I also suffer from a mild case of rosacea (sporadic flushing and slight diffuse pinkness).

I wanted to try Promiseb because it's supposed to "significantly reduce redness by day 14" and to reduce Malassezia, the yeast that causes seb derm, by 94%. This cream is not for the treatment of rosacea but, since I'm lucky to suffer from both conditions , I wanted to see if it would help with my diffuse pinkness anyway.

The sample the doc gave me was a 5 g/0.17 oz tube so I had to apply the cream rather thinly, if I wanted it to last fourteen days. The first day my face was a tad pinker than usual before I applied the cream and remained that way for the rest of the day. No itching, no irritation.

The literature says to apply 2-3 times a day or as needed. I applied it twice a day, morning and night, after cleansing. The cream goes on smoothly and I didn't need to apply moisturizer for it made my skin feel soft and hydrated. No clogged/enlarged pores.

Also, because I'm trying to get some natural vitamin D, I've been having 15 minutes of sun exposure at noon without sunscreen for the past few months. As a result, my body looks lightly tanned yet my face has a pinkish (what else! ) tone. Hard to tell if my face would look pinker after sun exposure without the Promiseb. However, on the fourth day of treatment, I applied Cetaphil moisturizer with 50 SPF at noon because I was on a 3-hour lake cruise and forgot to take my hat with me. By six o'clock my cheeks had just a hint of pinkness, which I find quite amazing (I wasn't always in the sun but my face got more than an hour of midday sun). A tiny whitehead appeared on my forehead the following day but I'm blaming the Cetaphil 50 SPF moisturizer for that.

The only change I noticed during the second week of treatment was that my face stayed cool to the touch even in a warmish (70+ F/21+ C) room, particularly in the evenings (but this turned out to be totally unrelated).

Now, during these two weeks I skipped the weekly (maintenance) natural treatment that's been keeping my seb derm at bay so no raw honey/coconut oil on my scalp and I think that's why my scalp started to get itchy by day 11th.

From the FAQ on the Promiseb website:



Well, I only had enough cream to try on my face for two weeks so I didn't apply it on my scalp or in and around my ears and, perhaps, that's the reason the morning after I had squeezed the last drop out of the tiny sample tube, my itchy scalp woke me up and when I looked in the mirror I saw, for the first time in many weeks, a few white flakes on my face (tiny and barely visible but they were there) yet my face remains quite pale/slightly pink.

Maybe my hormones are acting up again and I'm going through another bout of seb derm but Promiseb is somehow keeping things under control with the redness? Who knows.

So, in my experience, Promiseb may have slightly helped with the pinkness.

I saw my dermatologist on day 11th of the treatment and he didn't write a prescription because "it doesn't seem to be doing much for you so you might as well continue using coconut oil." BTW, I was the first of his patients to be given a sample or Promiseb, he said he gave four more samples to other patients but has not yet heard from them.

I'll see what happens in a couple of weeks. If my skin becomes pinker due to seb derm, I'll ask my GP to prescribe it and use it on my face and scalp. However, the natural honey/coconut oil treatment has been very effective, even during those days when my hormones go nuts so, maybe, I should just stick to it.

Hopefully, someone will find this post useful. If you've tried Promiseb, please post your experience here. Thanks!

Thanks so much for keeping us informed how you are getting on !! I'm sure others will find it helpful too, to know whether they want to try it as well.

cheers,
davidp.