cats irritated skin

Question
i have a 12 year old healthy cat named weezer.  lately i've
noticed a little patch, about the size of a nickel, of irritated skin
above her right eye.  sometimes it appears to be better, but then
the redness comes back.  she does not have fleas.  she is an
indoor cat.  she does have black acne on her chin, but this spot
looks different to me.  i wonder what the irritation is (though i
don't think you would know just from the description) and i'm
also wondering if it's okay for me to use a topical natural
medication to take care of this irritation.  if so, what would you
recommend?  i was thinking maybe tea tree oil, though the
irritation may be too near her eye for that.  thanks for your help.  
peace, elle

Answer
Hello, Elle.  To be honest, the things I see most commonly on the face are mange (caused by mites) and ringworm, a fungal infection.  Mange is treatable with a prescription only.  

Ringworm is best treated with a topical cream containing miconazole.  Your vet can give you one called Conofite, or you can get it at a drug store.  Some yeast infection treatments contain it (look on the label - it will generally say active ingredient: miconazole 2% or miconazole 4%).  However, ringworm does most often go away on its own, as the cat's immune system gets rid of it.  Unless there is intense itching, I usually allow my cats to get rid of it on their own, since treating is time consuming and they usually lick the cream off, anyway.  The only problem with this is, while the infection is active, spores of the fungus are shed into the environment, and they are highly infectious to you!  So most will recommend treating the infection to get rid of it more quickly.  Treatment can take 3-6 weeks.  There are also injections and pills that can help cure ringworm, but they can have negative side effects.

I personally don't use a lot of natural treatments on my cats, so I can't recommend one for skin problems.  But I think you definitely should have Weezer checked out by a vet, since the above possibilities really need medicinal treatment, and since treating the spot for one thing could certainly worsen it if it's from another cause altogether.

We also see irritated skin on the face due to food allergies.  Cats can also get eczema. Those would be something else to discuss with the vet.