I did quite a bit of research about Staph infections after I caught one in a steam room, and it appears that Staph causes about half of acne, and is present in cases of psoriasis as well. I am aware of the mite connection to rosacea, but also suspect Staph with that, too. Too much playing around with Staph with ineffective treatments that allow it to survive can lead to the Staph superbug, MRSA, that everyone has been scared by lately. One thing that has been discovered, for example, is that a preparation with less than 3% of Tea Tree oil can actually lead to the production of a more resist Staph germ. The Staph germ is a commensual that lives on the skin and easily spreads there. If you have a lesion from it you can pretty much assume that it is infectious, and that the germs are at least present in a 4 inch square area around the blemish. Acne is produced when a hair root becomes infected with it. In my opinion, Eczema is an attempt by the skin to dispose of a germ it cannot kill by sloughing off instead. I strongly recommend pump soaps, because bar soaps can harbor the germ--even, in some cases, germicidal bar soaps. For actual blemishes, 10% benzyl peroxide (which will bleach clothes) is very effective for many strains of the germ if applied consistently at least twice a day until the blemish is completely gone. COMPLETELY is the operative word, because with staph, if you don't treat it completely and kill it, you are better off not starting--it can evolve into worse forms which are much more difficult to treat. That is, apparently, why dermatologists use cortisone preparations so frequently to deal with it. It keeps the patient from scratching the irritated skin, but does not challenge the germ. I'm a bit confused as to just what dermatologists actually know and think about these conditions; my two theories on the matter are that either they disagree among themselves, or they don't want to panic people into being overly conscious about a germ that is omnipresent. However, after having read up more on Staph, if I had an infant, I would certainly not allow his or her bare skin to touch the average grocery cart seat. In my experience, vinegar does help Rosacea; and, by extension, it might also be helpful in cases of eczema and even some acne as well. Because of the reaction of my dermatologist when I mentioned vinegar, I stick with the distilled white vinegar, which has no other organisms in it to add to the confusion. (Where other organisms are desired to balance off the effects of a course of antibiotics, stick to the recognized dietary sources of yogurt, apple cider vinegar, sauercraut, Kim Chee, Activia, etc. and the probiotics carried by most health food stores.) I used vinegar for several years on my rosacea, and rarely had to resort to the prescribed Metro Cream. Salicilic Acid is available in a number of tube treatments over-the-counter; it is not as strong as the 10% benzyl peroxide but can be useful in shampoo and bathing form--the liquid soap I use with that is OXY. Dermarest has come out with shampoo and skin treatments that have salicilic acid in them which I have found to be quite helpful. The next step up from salicilic acid is the benzyl peroxide, but it is only useful for small areas as it is so drying; it's really self defeating to use it for anything but an actual lesion. Next is coal tar and similar things. Neutrogena makes a coal tar shampoo that seems quite effective. You have to find out, for your own condition and skin, what is best in terms of how much, how long, and how often you can use a preparation. In between the heavy-handed approaches, I use the pump baby soaps for bathing, interspersed with a new eczema and psoriasis wash made by Flexitol Naturals. It is part homeopathic and part herbal, but it seems to help. So far I haven't had as much success with the cream, but I used that in my ears, probably not the best place to try it first. I think anyone with these conditions needs to entertain the idea that a germ may be a factor, and use some common sense about constant reexposure. Avoiding touching the nose directly, but using a tissue to scratch it, is one easy step (Staph can live in the nasal passages even if cleared from the rest of the skin). Changing pillowcases several times a week instead of just when the sheets are washed (that should be done at least weekly) can be helpful with facial skin problems. Nightly showers should be taken, but with care not to over-dry the skin. Less affected areas should not be washed after using your hands to wash more infected areas...for really severe cases, use disposable latex gloves on the worst areas, to avoid spread. Wear clothing next to the skin that can be laundered thoroughly in hot water. Wipe down computer keyboards and telephones regularly with alcohol. In hospitals, Staph is cleansed from the skin of patients with persistent infections using Dakins Solution. It is a mixture of chlorine and a buffering agent; the formula for that can be found on the web, and some pharmacies have it available for sale if asked. It is very drying to the skin and should probably be used just prior to a shower. Don't forget eyeglass frames, hairbrushes, and other frequently used items. Hairbrushes can be sprayed with a chlorine solution and then washed in the dishwasher; eyeglass earpieces and etc. can be wiped with alcohol on a disposable tissue. Long-term antibiotic treatment for acne can result in a more resistant form of Staph, so it is a two-edged sword. It is definitely not a treatment that should be stopped without consultation with the physician who prescribed it, because stopping an antibiotic too soo can allow a resistant germ to reproduce instead of being killed. Doctors seem to think that Hydrogen Peroxide solution will kill staph. In my experience, if you are dealing with a resistant strain, it will just spread the staph if you wipe down an area with it. Applying alcohol is even worse--it will allow the germ to get into the skin. By prescription, you can still use hexachlorophine if you are an adult (it was found to cause nerve damage in young children), and if all else fails there is a skin wash used for surgical preparation (it's red in color) that you can try, if the usual disinfectant soaps don't work for you. The Cetaphyl line seems to be that one dermatologists like for moisturizers and waterless skin washes; they are noncomedonic and come in pump form. According to a book I have on skin care, they include newly available lipids in their formulation that do a better job of moisturizing. An ingredient in shampoos and skin products that the book recommended avoiding is sodium lauryl sulfate (laureth is OK)--it tends to be comedonic, or pimple-forming. Several of the herbal and vitamin suggestions in this thread look promising; the only thing I can add is that, when I was trying to eliminate my origional infection, I found references in old herbals to the use of elderberry bark and pokeberry root preparations for resistant skin infections. The efficacy would apparently be the organic cyanide in these plants. I tried making up a solution by boiling some of each together, and it did seem to help a bit as an external application.

For many years I followed the old "don't use soap on your face" mantra. Well, here comes my 30's and I'm still getting horrible breakouts. My insurance wouldn't cover the Rx creams from the dermatoloist any more. Some older woman told me to use a mild unscented plain homemade lye soap. I was scared but honestly after the very first use I never looked back. I started making my own and have no regrets. I wish I had the money back I spent on all those expensive acne treatments and face washes. I get a pimple or two during that time of the month or if I get hairspray on my face. A simple benzoyl perozixde cream from the drug store will help.

n2cookin, it sounds like what you have is a pilonidal abscess. If that's the case, the cause, treatment, and prevention is different than that of regular recurring abscesses. There's a lot of misinformation about pilonidals, but there's a lot of evidence that it starts from an enlarged hair follicle. Repeated trauma and stretching of the skin from prolonged sitting, riding a bike or motorcycle, etc. caused the follicle to stretch. Sweat, hair, lint, dead skin cells, etc. then collect in the little pit. Even more stretching and trauma eventually causes the wall of the pit to break. The body then starts an inflammatory reaction, forming pus, redness, and swelling. Pilonidal disease was first really studied by the military, and it was termed "Jeep driver's disease" because soldiers who drove in Jeeps all day were much more prone to the condition. Historically, the treatment has been to carve out a large excision to remove the "cyst." There's a lot of problems with doing that. The skin in that area of the body isn't very vascular, and doesn't heal well. There's also a lot of tension and movement to the wound. As a result, the wounds either take a very long time to heal, or may never heal completely, creating a chronic, open, draining ulcer. The biggest problem is that excavating a large area of tissue isn't usually neccessary at all. Remeber, we're talking about a HAIR FOLLICLE that started the whole mess. A one time episode of a pilonidal doesn't mean your skin is dirty or that you don't bathe enough. It also doesn't mean that you need a surgery, or that it will ever happen again. If it does, I'd do a little more research and make up your own mind about what would be the best treatment plan for you. A good resource is www.pilonidal.org.

I understand the concerns about using dish soap if it tends to dry your hands. That hasn't been a probelm for me, but I do have a child with OCD who tends to wash more than necessary, so for a while I switched from the antibacterial dish soap to a dish soap that was not antibacterial. It was gentler on the hands, and kept my child's hands from cracking (and sometimes bleeding) as they had with the antibacterial soap. Since then, I've diverted my child from constant hand washing to using hand sanitizer in between a normal amount of hand washing, which has solved the problem. Now I can use whatever kind of dish soap I want. But if it doesn't bother your hands, dish soap is a perfectly good hand soap. (My grandmother even used dish soap for shampoo, which I do occasionally for a super cleansing of all hair products from my hair, with no discernible harm.)