Fellow redbrows...we must unite and take over the media circus forcing society to realize that only superior engineered human beings have red brows! The mark of champions and natural leaders!

Oh all right, I'm kidding. I've resurfaced to contribute again to the board.

To answer some of the posts I've read recently...

Yes UO is real, there was a study done on it (only one publicized I know of) in England...laser treatment with Retin-A worked for subdoing most of the red faces in the experiment.

Yes it is diagnosed by Dermatologists...the head derm at the University of Colorado Derm & Cancer Center diagnosed me, with my help. They took a myrid of pictures too for their students to see, study and find a cure.

UO is a genetic disorder or disease. A corrupt 18th chromosone is the cause and it's passed on through generations...not everyone develops all symptoms.

I've tried creames, ointments, pastes, scar treatments, sebrioah dermatitis shampoos, IPL, PDL, and monoxidil 5%. Nothing worked for me. The only treatment worthwhile for me to pursue would be the transplant grafts...they take them from the hairline on the back of your head and can use the entire skin piece so it should keep growing as your eyebrow like it did on the back of your head. Matching it up on your face, without scarring is key.

I've resorted to using light colored eye shadow to rid the redness...yes I'm a guy. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I've had UO since 4th grade and used to get teased a lot as a kid. Everyone pointed it out over the years. I'm sick of it. When I don't wear the makeup I notice bigtime...but noone else seems to say anything so maybe I screwed my psychie up over the years and I'm now a lunatic. Who knows. I just either want the hair back....or the redness gone...is that asking for too much??

Hi Redbrow - just revisting this board also after a long abscence - good post. Like you I have tried lots of treatment. I have tried the roaccutane (shown to help by Dr Cunliffe of Leeds) but with no success. I have then gone on to try pulse dye laser treatment (as per medical trials) with some success. This is no magic fix but after two treatments my skin is a lot less red in the cheek area (I have atrophoderma vermiculata also) and the eyebrow area is also toned down a bit.

The trials done in Cardiff showed the redness totally disappeared in some cases and in others the maximum result that could be had was a 50% improvement. I guess something is better than none. I use a retina-a type cream on my skin to keep the odd KP bumps on my eyebrows at bay and it also helps my general skin texture. Fortunately I am female and can do the makeup thing.

I am very concious though that for guys it must be harder because camoflauge is not so straight forward. I admire your attitude! I have a 12 year son that appears to be getting UO so am keen to find out how to prevent hair loss and redness before the damage occurs (not exactly sure where to start though). I will get a proper diagnosis this Tuesday when I take him to the dermatologist. My son has only lost a bit of hair on one eyebrow (it went red and itchy the hair fell out and that was that!). Nothing much else has happened since but from memory my UO didn't really kick in until 13/14.

You are not alone out there Redbrow - and I am glad people like you have posted here as there is nothing like hearing from someone who has been where you have been. Wishing you all the best with your treatment and life in general.

Thanks Anne for the reply. The only treatment I'm on right now is the Rogaine again. I try like Harm to put a little on the brows each night before bed. Some nights I've skipped, but so far it's been a month with no results. They might be red'er actually. I'm going to try the full 6 months this time. If that doesn't work, that's it. I'll do nothing most likely until the glorious day a cure is found (which might just prevent the loss, but not reverse our condition unfortunately for us). I would love to try the PDL again as much as 4 or 5 times to rid the red finally...but it bruises so much I can't take off enough days of work to do it. IPL is too slow and they shave what's left of my dinky brows each time which is horrible and ironic.

Can I just say, this board has done wonders for me just knowing there are others out there and we are all fighting for a solution. I, like others, get to a point where we get sick of thinking and talking about this, and we go away from the board for a while. Then something happens in the world, someone makes a comment about our red brows, face, or wondering why (they think) we shave half of our brows!!... and we come back to the fight, back to the board. It's great.

I applaud everyone out there that has learned to just say, "forget it, this is the way I was made by God, I'm unique and won't fight it any longer!". To them I say, you may have found the REAL cure (the psychological one). To all of us that aren't quite there yet, I say keep it going. Go to your derms, try everything they give you, try other things you have researched and think might work...and post your results! If it's not working, go back to your derm...they will keep hunting for a solution. They should not give up on you. I will keep doing the same and maybe someday, it will pay off.

I know what you mean - you just kind of shut off that part of you and get on with it. It is only when someone mentions it or it causes you to not go somewhere or do something that you think 'Darn there it goes again'. I have spent a lot of time working through the emotional baggage this condition has caused. At 14 I was advised by the dermatologist I was causing it by my emotions - well that really screwed me up! Anyway 21 years and 5 derms later I finally found out the truth.

I find the hardest thing is feeling like you are the only one with this - to the point that when you go to see a skin specialist they haven't even heard of it. It is keeping the balance isn't it - accepting that this is the way it is but also not giving up hope that a treatment is out there.

To all you people with ulerythema ophryogenes out there don't give up. You will learn to cope with it and one day new treatments will be developed.