Rosacea

[missmartini]

Any fellow suffers?! My cheeks are constantly red and can get quite itchy, I've been to the gp but they told me it wasn't severe enough to refer me to dermatology and suggested trying a good skin care routine.

Has anyone found any good products that will help? I admit I'm usually a face wipe and moisturiser girl and that's about it so I know I should be doing better in the hope it will help! I also wear reasonably heavy make up, purely to cover my cheeks but I know that won't be helping either.

If anyone has any advice I'd really appreciate it!

How's your skin otherwise? I have very dry skin and rosacea. I use an oily balm to remove make and to moisturise, of an evening, in the morning I just use a flannel in the shower over my face, no wash products, followed by moisturiser. It doesn't get rid of rosacea, from what I understand there isn't a cure but some light beam thing can zap the broken capiliaries. I just use a heavy foundation.

IPL can really help with the background redness/thread veins associated with rosacea xx

@dudsville my skin is overall quite dry, I can have the occasional spot around my chin/ nose so I've diagnosed myself as having "combination" skin but I'm really not sure if that's right!

I've only just recently been trying to really research how to look after my skin properly (at the grand age of 32....took me long enough!)

Thanks for your advice will look into some similar products and routine!

@Pinkrach sorry what's IPL?

Avene products are great overall. I have oily skin and use their cleanance range and it's changed my skin for the better. From what you're saying I imagine you wouldn't need this range, but there are products for rosecea. Can highly recommend!

IPL is intense pulsed light treatment. I'm thinking about having a course of it, but it's not cheap unfortunately. In the meantime I'm using anti redness skincare which has helped a bit.

I have/had rosacea for about 10 years and found that using only warm water to wash my face helped. I also used homemade face packs of oats (porridge variety) and a tiny bit of olive oil once a week, and oil cleansed every now and again.

This is the first winter in 10 years that I just have just a slightly pink face but no itchy, blotchy spots. It's also the first year that I was prescribed Finacea (azelaic acid) and it's made a massive difference. I used it from June to November and now have mostly no need of it, but have used it for the occasional outbreak.

I had to visit the GP 3 times before it was prescribed. The first time, 9 years ago, my GP told me it was because I'd obviously changed face wash, moisturiser or washing powder and refused to believe that I hadn't. I told him I thought it was rosacea but he pooh-poohed me and told me to stay away from the internet. The second time (a year later) he told me it was rosacea but said there was no treatment for it. I am actually very angry at the smug bastard (a pillar of the local church and am-dram group before he moved away) as he left me with 9 years of discomfort and embarrassment over my appearance. Luckily his replacement GP was a little more sympathetic.

Cetaphil cleanser is meant to be good, green primers, camouflage concealer and a great foundation will help.

Paulas Choice do a good skincare range for Rosacea.

Metrogel/Soolantra are prescription treatments worth looking at.

For me a combination of Paulas Choice, IPL and Soolantra has got me a 50% improvement with one IPL treatment left to go, Rosacea sucks.

Yes, IPL is intense pulsed light. I’m currently having it for thread veins which cause redness in my face. It costs me £30 a time but I am seeing results after 2 sessions xx

OP the balm I use to remove makeup has been eve lom, but I recently bought a tub of Egyptian Magic, its a fraction of the price and the ingredients are few (5?) and are words I understand like bee pollen, olive oil, royal jelly.

The moisturiser I have been using was the thick balm from Khiel's. It's also quite expensive and the Egyptian Magic works better for me as a moisturiser than the Khiel's balm.

I'm currently in love with EM and will also use it to replace my hand cream (currently elizabeth arden 8 hr cream - the vaseline like one) when I run out!

To take off make up I use the EM and a flannel under warm water (my skin reacts badly to hot or cold water).

Thank you so much for all your advice! I'm just getting very self conscious over it and it's getting my a bit down. I know very little to do with skin care though and don't mind investing in good products for the long term gain. IPL sounds very pricey but I will def look into it!

Even reading the replies it's nice to know there's so many of us! The advice is fantastic from you all, thank you so much! 😊

Been prescribed Metrogel, doing an 8 week course. It's cleared up the spots but not the redness.

Still another 4 weeks left, I can't see it working to be honest

Hi OP. I am on birth control which also keeps my rosacea at bay - would this be an option for you?

My rosacea has finally calmed down. I use soolantra after cleansing, and for that I use Avene super gentle no rinse cleanser, i also use Avene super gentle hydration serum and then their moisturiser.

I have combination skin, and this time of year I usually have red and itchy skin, but this year has been fine.

Thanks everyone.

@FrozenMargarita17 I'm on Rigevidon already but not making any difference. I might see if I can change if it makes a difference.

Again, thank you all for the advice. Will be looking up all your products and adopting some techniques.

Can I ask with rosacea how did you determine your skin type? I feel I'm really dry on my cheeks, but not sure if that's the rosacea or not. My forehead can be very dry but then my chin can be red with the odd spot. Told my DP I had posted and he pointed out that my skin seems to have been worse over the past couple of months when I have started swimming 3 times a week. I've always been red before then but I dare say the chlorine has aggravated it. Defo not an allergy as I've always had the red cheeks but now he's said it's definitely more prominent.

Hey Op. I found rigevidon didn't touch mine at all, they changed me to marvelon which worked great but then I was told they've changed the risk factors for the pill so they swapped it to cilest which still works.

Would putting something like Vaseline on your skin before swimming help with the effects?

Thanks @FrozenMargarita17

I've just had a repeat prescription but when that's up I'll go and ask about a change!

Never thought of Vaseline will give it a whirl and see. I know it's just one of these things that I'll just need to live with but it's just annoying more than anything!

Thanks again everyone for all the advice!

I have been prescribed lots of different treatments by the GP with varying success but the best thing has definitely been a layer of sudocrem put on before bed. It really improves the redness and is cheap and non irritating.

Bioglycolic range jan marini

I’ve used a combination of Ipl, soolantra and Azelaic Acid. I use Soolantra at night on my spotty chest and Azelaic acid morning & night on my face. The Azelaic acid is not prescription but the GOW Brand. I find it really good and very anti inflammatory. I also use a Rosacea skin care range called Kalme. The green chameleon concealer is particularly good.

The less stuff I put on my rosacea prone face the better. It does well using Lush ultrabland cleanser and skin drink conditioner - still get some flushing and redness but no bumps and itchiness to speak of. Good luck finding the right stuff for you, lots of good suggestions to try here.

I have Roscea & Ocular Roscea.
I have been on antibiotics, (Doxycycline) for 9 months now.
Massive improvement.

I use Dermalex for Rosacea. It's a barrier Cream that moisturises lightly and acts as a primer. It has a slight green tinge that helps too. I find my thread veins, breakouts and flushing is greatly reduced if I use twice a day.

Soolantra (ivermectin) cream is brilliant and can be prescribed by your GP; it's meant to kill off the tiny demodex mites which inflame the skin. That, combined with Finacea cream for breakouts and a gentle skincare regime (Paula's Choice/Cerave, etc), has kept my rosacea more or less in check for the past 4 years, although I keep some oxytetracycline tablets as a back-up for really serious outbreaks. Cutting right back on sugar also had a dramatic impact. (note to self: cut right back on sugar again)

In my experience, most GPs don't have much idea about rosacea because there's no agreement about what actually causes it, let alone how you treat it. I went through years of Metrogel/'have you changed your washing powder?'/big doses of antibiotics, before I did some research myself and asked for Soolantra, which wasn't on the surgery's list of options at the time.