Rosacea, any recommendations please?

[eggplant16]

My partner suffers really badly with this. He is on antibiotics permanently. It still loooks red raw.

Please can anybody suggest something that works? Thanks

They're one of the possible causes. It's an autoimmune condition.

•showers not too hot
•no alcohol
•avoid extremes of weather (v cold/v hot)
•avoid spicy food
•not too much sugar
•avoid caffeine
•drink lots of water

Won't cure it but will help avoid flare ups.

No referral to dermatology. But then again he's never asked. Living in some sort of vague hope it'll sort itself out. As if.

I don't think it will sort itself out unfortunately. I was prescribed lymecycline with good results.

I think it would be a good idea for him to ask for new meds, and suggest that if no improvement in 2 months, they refer him to dermatology. (Skin meds are often slow acting.)

Mine wasn’t as bad as his sounds, but castor oil applied to my face each night sorted it in 6 weeks. I still so castor oil each night 20 years on and my skin is amazing.

Yes, thats what h'e taking. For years? It doesn't seem right to me. Thanks

If I hadn't pushed the GP to try Soolantra they'd still be prescribing me epic quantities of oxytetracycline (2x tablets 4x a day?!), despite posters all over the surgery warning against antibiotic overuse - luckily I saw a locum who seemed more amenable to my printouts of internet research. Cleared it up within weeks.

(I realise this makes me sound like That Patient, but I'd tried everything at that point and I still had a face full of throbbing red pustules, plus the antibiotics were giving me constant thrush. There's no real medical consensus about what causes rosacea so there's no consistent treatment plan for it.)

I feel in my gut bein gon antibiotice for years, can't be a good thing. Fobbed off and classic " don't make a fuss " patient.

Has he seen a private dermatologist OP? I was recently diagnosed with rosacea, after going back and forth to the GP umpteen times and given cream after cream - none of which worked. I'm now on a course of Metrogel (metronidazole gel), which is slowly working. The treatment plan is for me to stay on it for three months and hopefully after that I can come off it for a bit. I responded well to this cream, but my skin was very messed up having been put on a steroid cream by the GP (which is one of the worst things for roseacea apparently). I do really recommend seeing a dermatologist though, if you can afford it. It was about £140 for a consultation, but I live near London so it may be less elsewhere.

Soolantra

Has he been seen by a consultantv dermatologist? Ask the GP or practice nurse to refer him . My husband went and was prescribed nizoral shampoo and canestan HC .There's different types though . I think the key thing is to use sparingly And vary the treatments . Hope he gets sorted soon .

https://www.skinshop.co.uk/kalme - no experience personally but this range has good reviews.

Firstly go back to the GP and let them know the antibiotics aren't helping. Ask for Soolantra. What's he washing his face with, something harsh marketed for men? If so then CeraVe hydrating wash plus CeraVe PM moisturiser is a good starting point. No hot showers as they make it worse. If you can afford it then a private dermatologist appt.

Great Advice, Thanks

I hope this is my colleague you’re married to. Poor chap suffers dreadfully, but also doesn’t do the basics for self help. Having recently been to a dermatologist there were 3 things she said to me concerning skin health: good diet with colourful veg, water, sunscreen

Obviously 3rd isn’t practical with inflamed skin but eating nuts and seeds (flax or linseed is very good for the skin), a rainbow diet, and cutting out the crap, is the only sensible step.

I feel so sorry for my colleague and REALLY hope he’s insisted on a dermatology referral, as your partner must. He must insist and be a nuisance until it happens . It’s horrible to suffer like this. Good luck

tbf, the rainbow is rather sludge coloured at the moment chez eggplant.

Has he tried Soolantra? His GP can prescribe. Worked for me.

I had fairly bad rosacea for a long time, was always very red faced, got worse in hot/cold weather. Tried to cover it up; spent a fortune on products. Had no idea what it was, until one day I was at the GP re what turns out to be psoriasis on my legs, and he also talked about how I have rosacea. So off I went to the dermatologist for both skin conditions.

Had vascular laser treatment for the red capillaries on my face (repeated visits) and used Soolantra for the bumps (pustules).

I doubt my skin will ever be perfect but it's nice not to wake up each day and be worried about how high on 1-10 scale my facial redness will be!

Note none of this happened in the UK - I'm in a country where the GPs don't think twice about referring to specialists.

Long story short - it won't clear up by itself.

One more thing - I was told not to use anything perfumed on my skin - just the most gentle of products with the smallest number of ingredients. Apparently CeraVe and La Roche Posay are the best (the former is cheaper).

I worked on reducing inflammation overall, better sleep, less stress, and started doing the oil cleansing method to clean my face. I haven’t had a flair up in probably 9 years. Inflammation and stress for me were a big deal, I think.

Cutting out dairy and Soolantra were game changers for me

Oh and no alcohol

@mindutopia please can I ask which oil do you use for oil cleansing? And do you use it as a moisturizer too?