Cured Pityriasis Rosea in 1 week!

For all the impatient people who hate long posts, here's the summary of what I did:

- washed body with head & shoulders twice a day (recommend using clinical strength if your case is severe)

- sun bathed entire naked body for about 40 minutes. Let the sun hit ALL the areas where the rash is, especially in the hard to reach areas (I am female and I had this rash all over/under my breasts as well)

- Drank orange juice every day

- Optional: put prescribed steroid cream on rash for itching

Hey guys, I never post in forums at all but I remember being desperate for online help as I was going through this, so I thought posting my experience would help others as well. Just for some background, I am female and of medium to dark-tan indian skin tone, and 23 years of age. I wrote it like a story to lighten the mood LOL. Enjoy!

THE BEGINNING:

I first noticed a harmless little rash on my chest. I ignored it for like 2 weeks until I realized it had gotten bigger. Showed my mom who said it looked like a fungal infection. It looked exactly like ringworm (scaly with raised edges, semi-itchy). So for a week, I put lotrimin on it without any improvement. Then at the end of that week, I woke up with a TON of tiny blotchy raised bumps all over my chest, back, stomach, below stomach, and a little on my legs and arms. None on my face. I started freaking out. But for the next 2-3 days, I kept up with the lotrimin treatment to see if it would go away with time. It got even worse. I freaked out even more. so I researched online about what it could possibly be.

THE DIAGNOSIS:

I soon realized I had all the symptoms of Pityriasis Rosea, and that my initial ringworm-looking rash was actually the herald patch. I showed my mom how exponentially worse it got and she booked an appointment with a dermatologist right away. Since the appointment was still about 3 days away, and scared that it would get even more worse just in those 3 days, I wanted to waste no time and start doing everything I could to help cure this as soon as possible. I think this was KEY to clearing it up as fast is I did as I recognized it as PR only 2-3 days after my crazy rash even showed up.

THE TREATMENT:

After reading a bunch of posts that said to try head & shoulders, I thought it wouldn't hurt to try. I stopped with the lotrimin (it's an anti-fungal, it wont help with PR), and washed my entire body with head & shoulders shampoo twice that day. It made them so itchy and dry afterwards, but i just dealt with it. I did that for the next few days, they kept getting dryer and miraculously, no new bumps showed up. When I went to my dermatologist, it took him literally 3 minutes to diagnose it as PR haha. He prescribed me a steroid cream to help with the itching. That day, having learned more about PR from the doctor, I opened my window in my room and let the sunshine in. UV rays help to clear up the rash apparently. I took off all my clothes and just layed in the sun for about 40 minutes in my room (make sure the window is opened, otherwise I don't think the UV rays will be able to penetrate through the window). I made sure every single bump on my body got a good amount of sun exposure (just a WARNING: I am of darker skin tone, and I have read that too much exposure to the sun may leave PERMANENT dark marks even after the PR goes away. I would be cautious, maybe limit it to 10 - 15 minutes, twice a week if you're apprehensive). The sun seemed to irritate the rash and make them more itchy afterwards, but the next day, I was astonished to see that the rash calmed down significantly. Thrilled with the results, I decided to do another 10 minute sun bathing session the next day.

THE END:

From that day onward, for about a week, I kept up with the head and shoulders routine except toned it down to just once a day as it made my skin super dry. I also drank orange juice every day to help boost my immune system. I only used the prescribed steroid cream about 3 times to help with itching, but even the itching disappeared after a week. The spots seemed calm down so rapidly after that first 40 min session of sun bathing, I think that's what did it. After that day, I had absolutely no new spots. The healing began, the spots became so dry and started peeling, and were no longer raised. I didn't want to put any more creams or oils on top because it felt like the dryness was helping it disappear faster. After a week I was basically completely cured, no new spots, no raised edges, no redness or irritation, and no itching. I was only left with dark marks where the rash had been (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation; this is arguably worse than the actual PR for me and probably caused me more distress lol). 

FINAL THOUGHTS: Thankfully, the spots have begun to fade even within just a few weeks. I am still trying out different treatments for it (Bio Oil, lemon juice, coconut oil, cocoa butter, exfoliation, fade cream). This part takes some time unfortunately, but feel free to message me if you'd like to hear about my progress with that. 

PR blows; I know I was probably one of the lucky ones to have a pretty mild case of it. But please keep a positive attitude and keep up with the treatments and it'll be gone in no time! 

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