roseacea - is it all doom and gloom?

[notactuallyme]

Have suspeected roseacea. Hot flushes over last few months, itchy mildly flaky eyes over last two weeks, and pink sore skin on forehead and nose. Gp given me some gel, using eyedrops and teatree oil on eye margins. But, the internet has terrified me. Images of thickened skin, red faces, huge nosees and talk of depression and disfigurement. Really? Or will it be ok?

I was diagnosed with rosacea in March and really struggled with it. After some trial and error I realised that my rosacea had dietary triggers which were mostly foods with high histamine levels, including tomatoes, canned tuna, red wine, peanut butter etc, in other words all the things I used to eat! I have changed my diet and also use Avene Tolerance Extreme cleanser, water spray and moisturiser (not cheap but definitely worth it) and no foundation and touch wood the rosacea is now under control unless I am very stressed...it is amazing as I honestly thought I would be a spotty red, itchy, hot mess for the rest of my life! I did have the metrogel but don't need it now unless I have a mini flare up and then I just coat my face in it at night. Don't let anyone play it down though; rosacea can be miserable.

notactually I'm wondering if anyone else had the experience with barbecuing! especially as it's the season now; watch out for burnt food people !! whymummy yes the changing of the diet is the most important thing in dealing with it IMO.

really interesting re diets. i'm a veggie and thought i ate really well - however, have added a flaxseed supplement and more nuts/ dried fruit every day. so far so good - still red but not redder iyswim?
aloe vera moisturiser was really tight on my face this am, but i wonder if that's the gel? it seems to go really clingfilmy and peely after a while. also, i have stopped drinking wine (used to have a glass in the evening). Not sure if it helps, but it can't hurt.

I forgot to say, Avene also do an Anti-rougeurs (redness relief) line, with cleanser and moisturiser. It's a bit too heavy for me, as my skin tends toward oily, but I think it would be great for drier skin (it really does reduce redness).

yup I have flaxseeds also pumpkin seeds ground in my daily smoothie they're calming for yr stomach which is where the problems originate. I also follow my blood type (we are all different so react to different foods) the author is Dr. Peter D'adamo you can get apps and there's an FB page for beginners (i'm not good at links).

Another thought I had to help is eating fruit on an empty stomach DH and I noticed a lot less reflux etc. from the stomach after doing that .

As a long time sufferer, I tried everything, spent a fortune on dermatologists, creams etc. two things worked for me: IPL laser sessions (5 in the 1st year, then 1-2 top ups each year) as a medium term (and expensive) solution. Long term, I was fortunate enough to find a dermatologist who identified a case of Demodex mites (very frequent in rosacea sufferers) and prescribed chemist preparations which cleared up my skin without any need for laser or antibiotics. My dermatologist is based in Belgium so not sure who in the UK specialises in this, but happy to share details. Incidentally my sister followed the same treatment and is now also clear.

R2d2pink. That does sound interesting. Could you tell me whether your skin was just very red or you had pustules? Or both please.

Can you recall the name of the medication you were prescribed. It would be helpful to know the answer to that so I know what to do and ask for.

I have never heard of the mites thing! Just did some googling. Apparently everyone has the mites in their skin but it's possible they cause an immune reaction in some people which might contribute to rosacea (apparently this is a bit controversial). The gist seems to be that there's no harm trying to get rid of them and seeing if your symptoms improve.

overview here:

rosacea-support.org/just-how-do-you-kill-demodex-mites.html

I have heard of the mites thing but I'm a sceptic IMO nothing actually takes the place of a healthy diet. (For nearly all health problems actually).

Apologies for the 2 actually's!!!!

The cream my dermatologist prescribed was prepared by chemist so not available in shops. Dreamingbohemian is right: it's the way people react to the mites that causes or not the redness and pustules. Something to do with your immune system. I am hypothyroid and think it might explain why I can't fight the mites the same as a normal person. I had both pustules and red skin for over 10 years and tried everything: diet, nonsun exposure, Avene and other gentle creams etc etc. The pustules went after the IPL and the continued laser treatment helped prevent their reappearance, but the redness kept on coming back. if you find a dermatologist who is trained to do a patch test for these mites and prescribe a suitable treatment, I would go for it. The test will show if there is a higher concentration than normal which would help explain the reaction. Definitely worth trying as my skin is now back to normal + I am no longer paranoid about what I put on it or what I eat & drink.

FYI I noticed a few websites offer solutions for Demodex/rosacea sufferers. I would 1st do a skin test with someone who is qualified.

I'm avaoiding the mites possibility after completely terrifying myself reading some website where a woman could 'feel' them crawling under her eyelids, and advocated neat teatree oil. EEk!
GP has okayed a referral after a month if no joy. Today I am trying aloevera stuff, metrogel (picking cream up later) and eyelid wipes in the evening, coupled with flax and antihistamine. The glamour!!

interesting as I have auto-immune hypothyroid too, and possibly coeliac (can't tolerate gluten but not been tested).

Jan Marini skincare and facials

I had light therapy too after DD was born. The light therpy worked a treat and he also had me seen an endocrinologist as my hormones were all over the place.

I am in the US and have been surprised that the approach hasn't been more medicinized. The list of 'suggested' products are mainly neutrogena and aveeno products which are cheap and readily available. I have not had antibiotics yet as the dr says you end up with a fungal infection everytime and most antifungal products are not good for those with rosacea.

Have you tried the new Mary Kay Botanicals Skin care? www.marykay.co.uk/Page/good_clean_fun I have a couple of customers using this as they suffer from Rosacea and are having really great results. Obviously if you need treatment via your gp then that is what is appropriate, but Botanicals is a really great range for sensitive skins and is produced taking into account our increasing need to be green. It is worth a try.

want2b that's a very odd thing for your doctor to say. I had a dermatologist in the US who had no problem giving me antibiotics and they worked quite well, as a number of other people on this thread have said too. Did he mean a fungal infection on your face?

You seem inundated with recommendations, but haven't seen a mention of Purple Emu Blemish Control which I used after about 3 years trying with various prescriptions from GP. It completely cleared up my rosacea after a couple of weeks, and I haven't had any skin problems in the 8 years since.

Its not expensive, I only needed to use it for a few months, and I'd totally recommend it to anyone who's struggling with finding an effective treatment.

Hi all. I have rosacea AND acne :-(
I'm 40 and have had it for so many years I lose count!
Nothing has helped so far ....
Had 5 different antibiotics and also isotretinoin ... iso did NOTHING for rosacea but did work for severe acne/lupus .. but side effects were extreme at times. I found the lower dose better for me as each time the consultant upped my dose my skin just became so fragile it got infected and got severely worse!

I'm now off iso and just on 'normal' antibiotics.. skin has flared up again and i'm at the point where I don't want to go out as my skin is just so bad :-( I wish there was a magic cure ...
I'm making another appointment with gp while I wait for my dermatology appointment in september ...

Hi. frazzled really feel for you - your face is so important and visible, it's awful to get to the stage of not wanting to go out. I hope your dermatologist is helpful.

stranger inundated is good - I have copied this thread and am going to list out all the suggestions (started a while back) tbh I feel much better knowing there is stuff to try iyswim?
I am really interested in how much people know about this, and what they haave said.

I have mild rosacea. I flare up in angry dry red patches and lumps with extreme temperature changes, I cant have really hot showers and the cold wind in winter makes it worse. I live in Scotland which doesnt help! Also household product fumes like bleach and kitchen spray affect it and many, many beauty products and make up. I cant touch anything anti aging or skin renewal or my face goes crazy. Even so called natural products with essential oils really irritate my skin. Cant do body shop myself. Oh and hairspray... yep the list goes on!

My mum has it so I'm assuming mine is hereditory. I have tried so many different skin products and now we both use "Mir" skin products and I have found a huge improvement. The woman that founded the company suffers from rosacea and her website is very interesting. Worth a read. She has done a lot of research into chemicals that the beauty companies claim to be for sensitive skin and found them to be irritants.

www.mirskincare.com/rosacea_and_hypersensitvity.html

It is definitely managable if you catch the symptons early and find out what causes your flare ups. There's an awful lot I have to avoid and it still bugs me when friends have lovely new cosmetics and I cant! But I'd rather that than have sore red skin!

Good Luck!

I think demodex have been implicated in blepharitis quite frequently.

My DH's cousin had apparent seborrheic dermatitis for ages (not relevant particularly to rosacea but bear with me) and was convinced that it was fungal - he'd tried all the creams etc. the doctor gave him and in the end used an anti-fungal cream (I think it was for athlete's foot but can't be sure, it might have been canesten) on his face and lo! The seborrheic dermatitis cleared up, never to return.
So yes, you can get fungal skin infections on the face, but whether or not that would happen as a result of using antibiotics for rosacea, I couldn't say.

(ppeatfruit - extremely minor point - acid-forming foods are usually considered to be the fats and the proteins, because they break down into fatty acids and amino acids - the foods you were talking about might exacerbate stomach acid, and in many cases do, and are acidic in themselves but aren't usually under the banner of "acid-forming" :). I also follow the blood group diet - made a massive difference to my acid reflux and IBS!)

But not to your roseacea thumbwitch? For me the deadly nightshade foods were definitely to blame for my redness, what do you reckon about burnt foods?

Well you see I switched over to the diet about 15y ago and only started getting the mild rosacea about 5y ago, iirc - and as I say, alcohol, sugar, stress and lack of sleep seem to be my main triggers. I have troubles letting go of chocolate! Although the wine has now gone. :)

I don't go a bundle on burnt/barbecue foods anyway, not since I did my degree 100s of years ago and read about polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their carcinogenic properties - I think I bored everyone silly with that for at least a year, and refused to even contemplate eating any barbecued food before I got over myself relaxed a bit about it