This is what normal skin of a 30+ woman looks like without makeup!

[imgettingolder]

I thought this was a rash for so long (doctors ruled out eczema, acne, and rosacea, had treatments for all 3, none worked!) but I asked an AI if this is normal skin for someone 30+ and it told me it's very normal for women 30+ to get red, stinging and bumpy skin like this! When I was 18 my skin was the same colour as my philtrum and that white area just under my bottom lip.I got the big pores and leathery skin in certain lights in the areas that are redder. I miss having my teenage skin back when my skin tone was even LOL

Posting this here since I know these days it's so easy to be misled what normal skin looks like because of filters, heavy makeup, and whatnot. This is untouched, unfiltered, natural, NORMAL skin for a 30+ woman with fair skin and I am proud of it!

Try topical ivermectin to kill the mites.

Another thought - how is your gut? I was diagnosed with a bowel condition in my 50s (it's really mild, so late diagnosis as no real symptoms) and the gastroenterologist made some suggestions related to diet and it made a huge difference to everything.

I did! Nothing happened.

What's happening with my skin is what is known as "inflammageing". My skin is very pale, so it's ageing a bit faster than average!

"I have loads of vitamin D" is when it tipped into trolling for me

Don't be silly. Many of us on here are far older, and are telling you that that is not in any way, shape, or form, normal. Something - perhaps the soap - is irritating your skin.

Vitamin D supplements and Vitamin D-rich foods exist.

I am allergic to lye, a substance used to make soap and many foaming agents. Could it be this? Your skin does remind me of how mine used to be.

I also have rosacea and eczema but this is a different thing.

I think you're in denial OP. I'm very fair, northern European/Scandinavian heritage. It's not normal to have such inflammed skin.

That's basically what Soolantra is and she's tried it.

It's not, though. There was a point I tried everything, cutting out soap altogether, changing my toothpaste to a non-fluoride option, cutting out dairy, antibiotics, creams, moisturisers, etc. Even avoiding the sun, changing my detergent. Nothing changed it. This is just how the skin normally is, and inflammageing explains why it started around 30 and is gradually getting a bit rougher with time.

It was someone with skin issues using polyester pillows for me

You need to get a second opinion. Yes, we all age, but you shouldn't be suffering painful skin like that.

In my early 60s, my skin became inflamed - turned out it was an allergic reaction to steroid injections into my shoulder.

I'm 66 now. In my case, ageing means some wrinkles and a few age spots (which I have managed to fade to an extent - they were probably caused by the 'sunray' treatment popular for children in the early 1960s). I'm not using anything other than moisturiser and sunscreen on them at this time of year. I did start to use retinol and vitamin C on the age spots in the winter time, but I think I'll be going back to Clarins serum.

Once I stopped getting the steroid injections, the redness on my face eventually cleared up. I feared that it was permanent, but it eventually disappeared.

Whatever the suggestion, and despite multiple women telling you it is not in fact normal - based on their lived experience, not societal pressure or filters or social media - your answers indicate you aren't willing to discuss even the possibility that you might be wrong. What was the point of posting?!

This is how your skin generally is. It is not normal.

You should see a dermatologist.

I am a back sleeper so my face isn't touching the pillows. I'm also taking cetrizine right now for hayfever, so if it was a 24/7 allergic reaction lasting years, it would have resolved.

Oh God that’s not even an LLM that’s the bloody Google AI preview. The most inaccurate of all the AIs. It once told me my Pandora bracelet was adjustable with a button that doesn’t exist on any Pandora bracelet. Please listen to people op and go back to a real doctor. Not Doctor Google with its bullshit made up phrases it’s scraped up from the dregs of the internet. You’ve fallen down a massive rabbit hole with this one.

You shouldn't be suffering this. This really is not normal.

Cetirizine is only for hayfever type allergies not a general cure for all allergies (that doesn’t exist). Please see a real doctor.

Inflammageing is an internal, whole body, process. It does not make a woman's skin instantly red as she reaches her thirties. Nobody I know, aged 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90s, has skin like this.

OP, I'm sorry, I suspect you have come on here because you know this is not normal and are trying to persuade yourself that it is and hoping to get affirmation from lots of people that your skin is "normal". Instead you have lots of people, many quite a bit older than you, telling you that this is absolutely not how 30-something year old skin should look - all this talk of inflammaging, lack of collagen, pale complexion etc is just a lot of waffle. If you have been looking at TikTok videos of natural skin you must see this!

Maybe you're not on the right antihistamines. Cetirizine does nothing for my daughter who has chronic allergies. She has beclomeyazone and fexofenadine, but even switching to loratidine might help. I expect you've tried that before though and nothing changed!!!!

You need a second dermatology opinion, I have not great skin but by that I mean large pores on my nose and the odd zit, my face doesn't tingle, go red or bleed. I'm 34

I see many women older than me, clearly no makeup with clear, not red, not bleeding skin

This is not normal and unless you're genuinely happy with your skin then you don't have to accept that as an answer

People has excma its normal but they want to treat it and get better skin because excma is horrible. Your face isn’t what everyone else’s looks like with standard aging. It needs treating. A 40 year old won’t look like they’re 18 but they don’t look like that

It's normal! As we age inflammation naturally increases. If I could be 18 again, I'd love to have my youthful skin back. But when I look in the mirror I look at it with pride! It's a reminder that I've been here 30+ long happy years, and while my skin might be ageing, I'm still here and healthy!

What are the rest of your sheets, and your clothes, made of? Your skin isn't able to breathe if you are wrapping it in polyester. Why don't you try changing your sheets and pillowcases to cotton?

Not necessarily, you might need a stronger antihistamine, or it could be an intolerance or sensitivity reaction not an allergic one.