What's in a name?
Well, quite a lot, it would seem, when the subject is Topical Steroid Withdrawal.
Ever since I stopped using steroid creams, I have scoured the Internet for the best and most informative articles on the subject. There is an overwhelming wealth of information out there connecting the overuse of steroid creams with familiar symptoms such as burning, oozing, flaking, chills, itching and red skin.
There is one problem though.
There does not seem to be a universally agreed title or name for this condition.
When I first scoured the web for information about steroid damage, one of the fist articles I found was a Wikipedia article about Steroid Rosacea. It didn't take me long to conclude that this was the condition I had, as the description matched me and my symptoms perfectly.
It was not long after finding this article that I changed my google search term to "steroid rosacea" in order to find more information. It was this search that lead me to find Kelly Palace's site about addicted skin. The articles on her site by Dr Marvin Rapaport MD refer to the condition as "Red Skin Syndrome", although another of his articles calls it "Red Face Syndrome".
Articles by Dr Mototsugu Fukaya describe this condition simply as "Steroid Addiction", and other Japanese articles call it "steroid induced AD (atopic dermatitis).
Google "steroid rebound" or "rebound effect" and you will find loads of articles describing how the skin flares up once steroid medication is stopped.
Perioral Dematitis is a facial skin eruption caused by addiction to topical corticosteroids but is confined initially to the facial area. The term can also be used interchangeably with "Rosacea-like dermatitis".
Other online articles call the condition:
Tortured Tube Syndrome
TSDF Topical Steroid Damaged Face
TSW Topical Steroid Withdrawal
TSA Topical Steroid Addiction
Steroid Induced Eczema
Corticosteroid Addiction
Clearly then, there are a lot of names for this distressing condition! A lot of information can be found online by googling these individual terms, but many agree that it would be best to have one single recognised name to describe addiction to steroid creams. Currently "Red Skin Syndrome" is the favourite amongst the google group members, although "Steroid Rosacea" is more likely to be understood by doctors and dermatologists.
No doubt I will find more terms for this condition as time goes on, so I may add to this post in the future!
2 comments:
Hey Louise,
you did a great job, finding all these names:) I just wrote about some of them...But yes...how funny we both think about the same subject, hehehe;)))Wish u all good, hope u are doing well...I found a energetic healer and its helping me much much much!:)Love XXX
You two must have had a psychic moment! Spooky!
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