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Is My Acne Actually Dh?

dostoyevsky

By dostoyevsky
in Dermatitis Herpetiformis

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dostoyevsky Rookie
dostoyevsky
Posted

Sorry for my ignorance but what is DH?

I gave up eating gluten about 3 weeks ago as I realized that my acne only started getting really bad and I started scarring, around the same time as I started to eat a lot of gluten. I don't think I have celiac disease but I have noticed that I'm eating a lot more and am finally putting on weight for the first time in my life :) So I think I may be slightly gluten intolerant.

Well I've just found this category and am wondering whether my acne is in fact DH... what is the difference? I suffer from a few mild white heads but it's the under the skin cyst-like pimples that are doing the most damage. I usually have 2 or 3 and they can last for weeks. Now I have a lot of red marks left over from them and some scarring as well.

So does anyone know how long it will take for my skin to clear if this is DH and I stick to my gluten-free diet? Thanks.

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Guest mquistor
Guest mquistor
Posted

Acne is not HD. But, in my case Celiac related damage to my gut caused an overall inflamatory response through my whole body that did cause this type of acne over my head, face, etc.. My dem dr. never clued into this and we treated it for a long time topically. It wasent until I was 100% gluten free for 4-5 months before this went away for good. I have no acne now.

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

My DH as an adult was deemed to be 'picker acne' by one derm. I even asked how it could be acne as it itched. As a child I was told I had poison ivy-12 months out of the year.

I stopped getting new lesions within a couple of weeks gluten-free but it took a couple more weeks to heal the ones that were there. After that the only time I would get a lesion was within hours of consuming gluten so it was quite helpful for letting me know what I slipped with as my gut response tends to be delayed by a couple days.

You could ask a derm to biopsy looking specifically for DH, they do that by biopsying the area next to the lesion not the leasion itself.

Celiac is associated with a number of skin conditions not just DH so even if it turns out that it is not DH that does not always mean that the lesions are not gluten related.

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