Skin issues, even if it's just a pimple on your chin, can be incredibly frustrating. Hunting for a solution to fix your moneymaker can be exhausting, expensive, and seemingly elusive. But a 32-year-old woman with seborrheic dermatitis just found hers — and it's the goodness that you put in your evening tea: honey.
Reddit user sebdermhoneycure posted drastic before-and-after photos of how much her skin improved after using a honey mask for just one month.
According to her Reddit post, she had been struggling since April with an extremely difficult outbreak of seborrheic dermatitis, which is a yeast-related skin disease with a rash that comes and goes. While she's had it before and has never found a product that worked, the flare-ups usually go away on their own.
"This case was different," she said. "It was more aggressive, covered more of my face, and was harder to cover with makeup."
She went to a doctor, who gave her steroid cream, but it only made things worse -- ultimately giving her blisters.
"My skin was angry and itchy and just not having it anymore," she wrote.
After she spent $400 with the dermatologist, he told her there was nothing more he could do. (Since she's currently breastfeeding two twins, another treatment wouldn't be safe.)
He referred her to another doctor, but as a busy mother, she couldn't afford the time or money. So she went online to look for help.
She came across a study in which all of the 30 participants had successful results with their skin when they used a raw honey mask treatment.
"I liked those odds, so I committed myself to be homebound quite a bit during August, bought some raw honey [she used Nature Nate's Naturals], and set to work," she wrote.
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Other than using pure honey instead of a water-diluted version, she followed the 2001 study to a T, and massaged a thin layer of honey on her face and let it sit for three hours.
"I expected to hate it, but as long as my hair was tied back, it didn't feel nearly as nasty as it sounds," she wrote.
"Plus I got to lick my fingers after applying it!"
Then she used other cleansers and creams meant for her skin condition to help wash off the honey and moisturize her skin afterwards.
By week four, her skin looked strikingly different and clearer. "I cannot believe how quickly and relatively painlessly this worked."
We don't blame you if you're reading this with the most skeptical of skeptical faces on right now. According to Marie Claire, there is actually scientific evidence that honey has curing properties for acne and dermatitis because it affects the yeast, even though doctors often treat seb derm with antifungal and cortisone creams.
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Still, her story is definitely one to keep in mind for any others who are running low on options to save their skin.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
