Skin Care Routine That Doesn't Aggravate Tinnitus

Hi all,

I didn’t see a relevant thread that was active regarding skin care routines. As you know, skin is one of our largest organs and has important an important function! It is then befitting for us to treat it with great care, as our other health and internal physical concerns.

As I started to make an attempt in familiarizing myself with skin care and skin treatments/general maintenance I wondered if my tinnitus would come into play. Specifically regarding the use of “actives”, active ingredients, and topical medications. I have worn out the search bar function looking for specific topical active ingredients in which I was particularly interested in: Retinol/Retin-A, salicylic acid/BHAs, and AHAs. I have a weighted interest in specifically hearing from you lovely people, those who suffer with tinnitus like me!

If you’re also interested in skin care or if you’d like to just help me compile some information on using topicals with tinnitus feel free to share your experiences and let me know what your routine is like and what you treat. What works for you and doesn’t aggravate your tinnitus.

I hear lots of conflicting info on the absorption of topicals into the blood stream, I figure at least it would be nice to know the anecdotal bits from you all.

So what works for you? Are you interested in skin care stuff like me?

I am just starting this journey personally, although I struggled with skin issues in the past (I would say I’m fine now) I saw skincare as a passive thing (means to an end aka acne please go away). Now I see it as preventative and a great general maintenance, as well as anti aging.

Please share!

Hoping to hear from you,
Shelby

 

I dont think that skin care chemicals entering the blood stream has an effect on tinnitus, seeing how tinnitus is caused by the fine hair cells being harmed.

But if you want a natural complete skin care, there's one that works perfectly. It's called pure Olive Oil. Add 2 tablespoons into a hot tub of water and immerse yourself. Then pat dry. The old time ladies used this. My Granny did and at 92 the doctors always said she had lovely soft skin.

 

I mix a small amount of vitamin E oil into my Dermol 500 (it’s prescription, but pretty inert, and you can buy it if you wish).

Coconut oil and almond oil are pretty good for skin as well. I use them occasionally, but only a few drops to avoid my skin getting too greasy.

I started using these oils when I fell pregnant to avoid stretch marks, It worked like a charm.

 

Been thinking about olive oil too, as I suffer from a terrible acne spike as of lately. However, I just searched a bit on the internet and found from multiple sources that olive oil can be a breeding ground for bacteria and clog skin's pores easily being a thick oil, leading to more irritation and infections.

I thought it is good for skin care, but it turns out it may not be...

 

Yeah that was my curiosity, how much skin care chemicals can really affect tinnitus when many of them are in low concentrations, as well as usually being made to only be effective in the skin/skin barrier and not systematically (at least topical medications, not oral). I doubt it would really affect my tinnitus greatly considering I think my tinnitus is from high frequency hearing loss and a lifelong music/sound abuse.

There isn't really a lot of testimony or info on Tinnitus Talk and what people use. When I was younger I suffered from really stubborn (genetic) acne and it was not a great time. I took Accutane for maybe 6 months. Ever since then my skin has been clear but lately noticed a little more tiny bumps (teen me would be very angry at present me considering she had much worse skin lol). Call it like a very mini version of trauma but once you have experienced problem skin, and got perfect skin, you never want to go back. So now I've made it a personal mission to find out. I may just have to be my own guinea pig and find out. As with many things tinnitus, this is how we find our limits I suppose.

 

What do you currently use for your acne? I'm staring to get tiny closed comodones - basically little bumps with no visible "head" (probably from discontinuing birth control medication tbh, hormones I think).

 

Actually nothing lol. Except some basic soap water. I'm kind of too scared to use anything that might have an effect on tinnitus... I'm having many on the forehead which is particularly annoying... big inner bumps, small white head ones etc. But I just let them be or break them when the white head appears.

I used to put some Fucidin or Celestoderm cream in the past, but I don't think they were effective at all. Mostly time healed them and luck not to get more of them!

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Anyone living in a industrialized society is being exposed to and consuming way more harmful substances on a daily basis, yet in most cases doing just fine because the exposure is minuscule.

There is a lot of pseudoscience out there in beauty industry, the majority 'active' ingredients are just gimmicks. They are hardly absorbed by the skin due to structure and size (the compounds/molecules are too large to even penetrate the skin). Only a few ingredients have any genuine scientific backing and you've already listed many of the significant ones (retinoids and various acids). These are extremely unlikely to aggravate your tinnitus through topical use. I have personally used various products with retinol, retinaldehyde and salicylic acid for some years now without problems and my tinnitus is easily aggravated by caffeine, alcohol and salt.

Hope this helps.

 

Hey @Shelbylynn, I will write my skincare routine and what products I use - and just so you know, none of them have an impact on my tinnitus. Also, my routine is super simple but works well for my extremely sensitive skin. It’s taken a lot of products to find which ones don’t sting my super sensitive eyes.

Morning routine:

• Cleanse using my electronic facial cleansing brush with a soft head on normal setting. I used La Roche Posay Effaclar Purifying Cleansing Gel.

• Rinse face with cold water and pat dry to tighten pores.

• Next I either apply CeraVe's Facial Moisturising Lotion SPF 30 or Paula’s Choice Resist anti-aging skin restoring moisturiser SPF 50.

• If I am outside all day, I also take with me and reapply La Roche-Posay Anthelios UVMUNE 500 50+ protection.

• I exfoliate once/twice a week using my cleansing brush on a higher setting and applying Paula’s Choice skin perfecting 2% BHA liquid exfoliant.

Nightly Routine:

• Same as morning - Cleanse using my electronic facial cleansing brush and La Roche Posay Effaclar Purifying Cleansing Gel.

• Rinse with cold water and pat dry.

• Apply No7 Pure Retinol Night Repair Cream or Neutrogena’s Rapid Wrinkle Repair Night Moisturiser.

• Lastly, apply No7 Pure Retinol Eye Cream.

I should introduce other steps like a toner, but for me, just a good cleanse of the face, sun protection, and heavy night moisturiser seems to work well.

 

Thank you so much for adding this!

That was pretty much what I suspected, but I think since getting tinnitus made me overly cautious and second think everything. Since the skin is designed to keep things from getting in the blood stream, I was curious if anything actually could work on that kind of level. I really appreciate your assurance. It's nice to feel like I can go forth and live my best skin life.

Also I absolutely agree that there is SO much pseudoscience as well as misinformation in the beauty industry and a lot of that trickles down into discussion among regular people as well as armchair estheticians.

Thanks again! I am going to try either retinol or salicylic acid.

 

100 percent unrefined, organic, cold pressed coconut oil. Great for skin and hair care. Keep it in the fridge and it will last a very long time. I take out a small amount at a time and keep it in the bathroom. It is lovely to apply immediately after a shower while the skin is still moist. Just a small amount goes a long way. No toxins or chemicals or fake scents to worry about.

 

l love coconut oil for my hair! I do masks where I apply some let it soak and wash out! I haven’t tried it for my skin yet though

 

I wanted to update my little thread here:

I’ve been using retinol and salicylic acid weekly for a month now and so far there has been no bearing on my tinnitus! The retinol I’ve been using is more of a moisturizer that contains retinol, likely not a high percentage. I was gifted it so I’m going to use it up before maybe trying adapalene which is a retinoid.

Salicylic acid has given folks grief on Tinnitus Talk so I was reluctant to try it but I use it maybe no more than 2x a week on the off days I don’t use retinol cream. I only use salicylic acid once or twice a week since using a retinol is constantly resurfacing the skin and can be irritating/drying adding exfoliation on top can be a lot! I have not noticed the salicylic acid having an change on my tinnitus! The kind I use is a natural willow bark derived form toner.

I wonder if since my tinnitus is noise induced, topicals and meds don’t really change my tinnitus. Antibiotics, pain meds, etc. don’t do much to my tinnitus! Only things that did affect is caffeine and alcohol! Oh and Tramadol!

So let this be on the record for anyone else who was worried like me seeing horror stories of topical creams going bad!

I also used Neosporin on wounds - no change on my tinnitus.