Rosacea

[Matildathebrave]

After suffering for 15 years I have been diagnosed with severe rosacea. The GP is not at all interested and gave me 7 days anti-biotics and said that would sort it.

I haven't bothered going back.

I have a very sore red face (feels like sun burn) spots and sore lumps on my eyelids.

I haven't left the house for a while as just can't face meeting people.

It has been going on for so long now I really need some help.

Just wondered if anyone else has this or could offer some advice?

See a different GP!

I have Rosacea - in hindsight I've had it for years but only diagnosed when i was pregnant. GP could only give me a gel called Rosex which has helped a little. He also said that after pregnancy, he would try me on long term antibiotics to try to improve it. I'm actually going back today to see whether I can try this but not sure if I'll be able to as still bf.

I have it!

Looking back I've had it since my 20's, but was only diagnoses in my very early 30's.

I've had antiboitics to help, and now use the Rosex cream, instead of the gel as it sits better under make up.

My skin has been a bit better since my last DC, but I have flares if I am not very careful with my triggers.

I have been left with some tiny thread veins, but it's manageable and I can cover up if needed. hth

I've had it for years - I use Rosex and find it helps to avoid alcohol, chocolate and wheat. I love running though and being outside tends to aggravate it.

I use Bare Minerals makeup - quite light cover but it seems to help my skin too as it's very fine.

PS I think if you have lumps near your eyes that is far more severe than mine and you should see a dermatologist.

I suffer too. Have been for over 2 years.

I don't have the spots/pustules but a red red red face. Although I am managing the redness well and starting to look more normal.

It really flared during my first pregnancy so it was quite a while before I could use any medications as they're all banned during pregnancy and BF. During 6 months of BFing it spread to my throat, chest and upper arms. Not attractive. But its under control (more or less) now. And the redness on chest, arms and throat has gone fully.

Your GPs advice isn't correct. If you are to take antibiotics, then you need long term course of minimum 3 months, probably 6 months.

And it would be best to also use something topical to apply too (obviously not around your eyes).

Can you afford a private dermatologist?? About £100 should get you a consultation and a long term perscription so you wouldn't need to fork out for a further consultation for a matter of months.

Also private derm would write to your GP which means you could get repeat perscriptions from there as you would have a specialists diagnosis.

I didn't find the very strong antibiotics (such as lymacycline) very effective. I found long term euthromycin more effective.

The best topical stuff I tried was Finacea. Absolutely the very best and works without oral antibiotics. I found results from Finacea were lasting ie where it had cleared the redness, it hasn't returned despite the fact that I have had to stop using finacea as I am pregnant again.

My face was extremely sore with that horrid sunburn feel to it but 3 months of eurthomycin took that and a lot of redness away. After that I could use the Finacea as my face had previously been too sore to apply.

You will most likely need a dermatologist to perscribe finacea as its essentially an acne drug and its use for rosacea is what is known as "off label use" but its widely used and effective. You could ask your GP but I've not found GPs helpful for rosacea at all.

I also found that pretty much all skincare stuff makes my face searing burning red.

I use grapeseed oil (neals yard or holland & Barratt) and a muslin to cleanse with just like oil cleansing method but without the castor oil (too harsh). Its also keeps my skin moisturised and if I'm really dry then a drop of the grapeseed oil applied after cleansing does the trick.

Avoiding all other skincare stuff means that my face isn't red now (quite pinky cheeks but not in the same league at all) that I am pregnant and cannot use any of the rosacea perscription medication.

I use mineral makeup. I find Lilylolo good. Or the Bare Escentuals (the Matte one!!) good. There are many other brands of mineral makeup and it depends which shades suit you best.

And final tip. Apply mineral makeup with a flocked sponge rather than a brush as I find the brush sets me off too and isn't nice on a sore face.

If you go on a course of antibiotics, you need to expect that it will be a good 2 or 3 weeks before you see a big difference. However if you do antibiotics with a topical such as finacea, you will start to see a difference much faster.

I really hope you get the medical support you need as its awful to suffer from rosacea (and painful) and it really ruins your confidence not to mention your social life.

It can so easily be so much better and to the point where you don't notice it and actually forget about it most of the time.

Also agree about the minerals make up, I use Bare Minerals.

Sadly, alcohol, chocolate and excercise are just a few of my triggers!

Also forgot to mention that if you have pustules around your eyes, you do need a consultant dermatologist to prevent damage to your eyes from Ocular Rosacea (happens over a very very very long time) and if you cannot afford to go private, you need to essentially force your gp to refer you.

There various websites for supprt. My dermatologist recommended the one below.

www.dermnetnz.org/acne/rosacea.html

Thank you so much! I've had more help in these replies than in the 15 years or so I have been suffering from this condition.

Could I please ask a few questions:

With cleansing, that's one area I just don't know where to start or what to use.

With the Grapeseed oil, I just had a look on Holland and Barratt site and it said not to use undiluted on skin, also I though with rosacea oil had to be avoided?

I'm about to order some make-up from Lilylolo, do you know if any high street shops stock this brand or do Boots do a mineral make-up which would be easier to get hold of?

I can't afford private healthcare as I have two young children so am not working at the moment.

Thank you again,

Hi,

Perhaps H&B only have Grapeseed ESSENTIAL oil.

What you need is grapeseed oil (as a Base oil/ carrier oil). Neals Yard for less than £6 and bottle last you couple of months.
Here:
www.nealsyardremedies.com/Grapeseed-Oil

Most information I had seen told me that all oil should be avoided for rosacea. But I then did lots and lots of tedious googling to find that a lot of people use oil cleaning (not to be confused with slapping on oil based moisturiser which causes problems) and with good success.

It has made my skin less oily if anything so makeup doesn't slide off. And it has sorted out the peri-oral dermatitis (scaly bumpy ugly skin surface which no makeup would cover or stick to!) I had along with the rosacea. Hence more normal looking now.

If you find the above idea on oil cleansing too scary to start with (I did but was mega desperate) then you can buy a cleaners and moisturiser called Cetaphil which was recommended by my Dermatologist.

Its very cheap and generally doesn't cause irritation. If you can't get from your local chemist you can buy online.

I tried Cetaphil and it certainly doesn't make your skin worse but its full of chemicals which means it isn't something I would like to use if I can avoid it.

For what its worth, none of the 3 consultant dermatologists I have seen were particularly enamoured or impressed with Rozex gel or cream. I was told that its effects are limited to 6 to 8 weeks where not much improvement is seen afterwards and only really suitable for very mild cases. However they got me to try it just in case it would be effective for me (it wasn't).

Lily Lolo is online only but you can just order a few sample size (couple of £s each) to try for best shade for you.

you can buy mineral make up on High St/Boots but most of it is absolutely full of Parabens, preservatives and bismuth oxychloride which are the items those with rosacea are most sensitive to. So I would avoid avoid avoid. Plus Lily Lolo is sooo much cheaper than anything on High St. So big savings in the makeup dept.

As for Dermatologist App. You need to go and have a look at the website I mentioned in post above and print some of it off and take to your woefully ignorant GP and press for a referral if nothing else to avoid your ocular rosacea worsening or causing damage to your sight. You may need to be fairly blunt with GP to get any action.

I had one dermatologist app on NHS but given it took 6 weeks to get it and if first lot of antibiotics were unsuitable, I'd have to have waited another 6 weeks, I binned the idea and went private. BUT it is possible to get excellent treatment for rosacea on NHS however you must be persistent (hassle them a bit).

HTH

MatildatheBrave some GPs are better than others, mine raised the rosacea when I was there about something else, and said he hoped I didn't mind him mentioning it. I really think you need to see someone about your eyes.

I ordered the Bare Minerals stuff online from Amazon as it was cheaper than the shop, although I did go to the shop and get them to test the products on one side of my face to see if I got a reaction. I haven't come across Lilylolo but try a sample for a few days before you commit to spending too much. I tried some Clinique stuff before and it was awful, I came out in a really bad rash.

Good luck with it.

Thank you again. I have ordered a few trials from Lilylolo and also the sponge.

I've made a docs appt though have a two week wait but it's booked so it's a start.

Will search around on the net later when the kids are in bed, impossible to concentrate at the moment.

Thanks again,

Matilda

Hi again,

I have ordered some grapeseed oil from Neals Yard.

Can you tell me how you apply it and how much, also do I need to mix it with anything?

Sorry for all the questions!

Matilda

I've had it for about 12 years.
I use lymecycline antibiotics.The aim is to use them for a few months then stop for a while.
I actually had 2 years with very few flare ups but six months ago it started again and I'm back on them. Thet work like magic for me.
I never put any make up or anything but a mild moisteriser on my face. I realise that wouldn't be acceptable to many women but I really don't care about not wearing make up.

Matilda,

Pour about a £1 coin size splodge into palm of your hand and very gentle massage over face.

Then, using either a face cloth/mulin/similar, wet it and wring out and wipe face gently in downwards motion to remove dirt and makeup. Rinse cloth and repeat wipe once or twice more and you're done.

You don't need to mix it with anything and if your skin is very sore atm I wouldn't. But you can put lavender essential oil or other soothing oils into your base oil is very very small quantities. But as you're sore and have a rosacea flare, I would avoid it for now.

Be aware that you will still need antibiotics and some sort topical stuff from doctors to really blitz the rosacea.

As TheSpook said above, lymecycline really worked for her. Didn't for me. So actual antibiotics may be trial and error for you too (need to give each medication you try at least 6 weeks before your ditch it).

There are no super-quick fixes or complete cures. However, so much can be done to manage it and bring it under almost total control.

Don't be despondent if your first lot of medication doesn't seem to work very well. Just go back to doctors and insist on trying something else. You can easily google to look up all the most common and most suitable antibiotics for rosacea.

I was in a terrible state about it and as mentioned in my other posts, the redness had spread to other upper body areas. I just want you to know that I almost don't think about it now and even without makeup it isn't that noticable apart from pinky cheeks (naturally pale and pinky sort of person). So chin up and make sure you put your point across when you see your GP next so that you're not left without the necessary medication.

Thanks so much. All items ordered now and on their way to me and GP appt booked.

Will let you know how I get on....

Have you tried gentle glycolic skin peels? A few years back I had this treatment at www.therapeutix.org and it really helped. They also do a range of products Exuviance which I have used for some years now and wouldnt use anything else www.therapeutix-beauty.co.uk. They have a great blog site www.therapeutix-beauty.com where you can ask questions on this problem

Hi thanks for your reply. I am currently using the Grape Seed Oil idea, have been using this for a week now. My skin hasn't improved or got worse so am going to keep going with it and hope to see an improvement soon.

Do you suffer from Rosacea? Could you tell me which products you use?

Am willing to give anything a go. Not heard of the skin peels before, sounds scary. Not sure if they would make my skin worse (can't get much worse).

Matilda

The best thing I've found for rosacea is high doses of EPA fish oil. I take in conjunction with florad*x; read somewhere that regular iron tablets can aggravate rosacea but this was just some beauty book so will take with a pinch of salt.

The fish oil isn't a miracle cure; the rosacea hasn't gone completely but is much, much less noticeable and no longer angry. It also got much worse the first two weeks before it started to slowly improve. Fish oil isn't suitable if you ahve certain conditions and/or are on some medications. I also find eating lots of nuts and avoiding curries and alcohol (the latter still manages to catch me tho) helps.

Skincare wise, I don't think there's a magic bullet. One thing that irritates my skin is lavender oil. this is found in loads of ranges for sensitive skin - i suppose they confuse relaxed mind with calm skin.

I had this for a while though it did go away after a few months' of antibiotics.

For cleansing face, doctor recommended washing with E45 cream (I used the aqueous cream from the chemists, but same sort of thing) - that's really nice and moisturising and also gentle.