Acne rosacea - skincare or dermatologist?

[dinodiva]

This is about my husband. He has very sensitive skin with rosacea, and often gets nasty, sore spots between his eyebrows. He’s having a bad flare up at the moment, and had a reaction to the Liz Earle moisturiser that he’s been using for the last couple of years - his face swelled a little bit and was redder than usual.

I’d appreciate some advice on any types of skincare that might help him, I wonder that very plain stuff is probably best. I use a combination of The Ordinary and Clinique, and after a bit of research am trying to encourage him to use my hyaluronic stuff to start with, but is this the right approach?

Or should we just suck it up and send him to a dermatologist? He does have very sensitive skin (he also has asthma and eczema) so I wonder if there are some underlying allergies. I just feel a bit sorry for him really. He keeps saying how he’s 44 and should have grown out of having spotty skin by now!

Has he actually seen the GP? He may need antibiotic cream for the spots. I had awful spots until I got the cream, and now I just have redness. I use Liz Earle, but have just bought a couple of products from The Ordinary recommended for rosacea. Haven't actually tried them yet though.

Meant to add I just use the cleanse and polish. I actually use Lidl moisturiser, and my skin seems much calmer!

Eczema and rosacea are a tough combination so he has my sympathy.

I've stuck to Simple Soap and E45 cream for years after trying everything under the sun and that combination works for me. I don't use anything else as it doesn't agree with me. It takes a while but my skin did calm down, although it flares up again when I'm particularly stressed.

Hope he finds something that works for him.

Absolutely see a dermatologist. Privately, if you can afford it, as the wait on the NHS will probably be months or years. I have battled with my skin (similar issues) for over 40 years; one trip to a dermatologist made a world of difference.

If you are anywhere near Hertfordshire, go see Veronique Bataille at the Spire Harpenden hospital.

Rosacea needs a gentle touch - I found the Liz Earle stuff to be truly terrible for mine. Everyone raves about it but I ended up with angry red itchy pimples everywhere. Clinique redness solutions is usually ok for mine (but the moisturiser is too heavy so I have to thin it down with dramatically different gel). Hyaluronic acid sounds like a disaster for inflamed skin. I agree that the GP might be able to help him, there are special rosacea antibiotic creams that might help. Also cutting down sugar - mine is terribly itchy if I have too much sugar

I have eczema and rosacea. My dermatologist (private) subscribed soolantra and it’s totally got rid of the spots. It takes a long time to start working so you need to persevere with it for a couple of months before you see a change (my doctor didn’t tell me this but I’d read lots of reviews online fortunately or I’d have given up).
The base for the active ingredient is cetaphil moisturizer and I find it doesn’t upset my sensitive skin at all.

As you can tell, I can’t recommend it enough, life changing for me.

Thank you all, that’s helpful. I do think he’s probably best to get professional help.

He has seen a doc on a number of occasions and had a long series of antibiotics a couple of years ago - I don’t think it made a marked difference. The most recent suggestion from the GP was to try taking beta blockers which he wasn’t impressed by.

Metro gel is great for the spots but what would you recommend for redness?

A GP should be able to prescribe Soolantra if you ask for it (mine hadn't heard of it, but now it's on the prescription list); it cleared up my rosacea pretty quickly. Azelaic acid gel might also work; it's an anti-inflammatory and gentle exfoliator.

Tomatoes and oranges can be terrible for rosacea AND eczema. Also some of the other 'deadly nightshade vegetables.

Also try washing in softened water and using just pure almond oil, with a drop or 2 of tea tree or rosemary essential oil in it. I was allergic to Liz Earle products , there's too much stuff in it now ( it's not owned by Liz Earle anymore).

Liz Earle irritates me too, but I love hyaluronic acid- really stops that tight feeling across the bridge of the nose/ cheeks that the rosacea gives me. Cleanser wise the toleriane stuff seems to be okay for my rosacea.

Hi, I had rosacea a few years back. If it's swollen it sounds like it's infected. GP may give him antibiotics. It was the only thing that got rid completely for me. And cutting out wine. There is a soap I use that I think keeps it at bay and just a simple moisturiser. The soap is sulphur soap. £10 for 3 from amazon.

Oh and others have said soolantra.

Tea tree is a completely safe anti biotic, (and anti viral) it doesn't have the risks of over use that comes with 'normal' ABs.

IMO it seems wrong to go on low level or normal ABs for a problem that can be cured by using T tree and or other essential oils.\herbs.

I use an oil cleanser, The Ordinary azelaic acid, and nivea moisturiser. I just bought some Hyaluronic acid from the ordinary so will see how that works.

I'd suggest taking a daily Vitamin D supplement - 1000 IU is the recommended daily dose. I take more (prescribed) and my poorly skin is recovering much more quickly than I would expect to from a recent flare-up.

Like others upthread, I find Azelaic Acid really helpful with rosacea. I also use Hyaluronic acid under my moisturiser and some lovely stuff called Neurophroline serum for 'stressed' skin. All Garden of Wisdom because my skin and The Ordinary just don't get on, sadly.

Dermatologist is definitely the way forward though. I was referred to Veronique Bataille at the Spire and she was great, really helped me.

Evening primrose and or linseed oil are good supplements to take as well. We all need more omega 3s\6s in our diets.

Soolantra - worked in a couple of weeks for my mild rosacea.

You can get an online prescription issued by a Dr. I just had to upload pictures and background information. This was great for me as it's a 4-6 week wait for non emergency appointments.

Thank all, this is really helpful. I’ve already got some hyaluronic and azelaic acid for him to try, so will encourage him to introduce one and then the other. I’ll also have a look at soolantra.

You need to use fragrance free products and non without essential oils. These are irritants to the skin.

Just echoing the soolantra users on here. It can only be GP/derm prescribed so book an appointment! It clears up any acne rosacea spots I have within days.

Tea tree oil

Soolantra is effectively killing the mites which are behind rosacea for many people. Tea tree oil also does this too- i started twice a day and now just at night- as mites are apparently more active at night/dark

Seen a definite improvement

Soolanta soolantra soolantra. life changing

Yes, Soolantra. You can get a prescription online through pharmacy2u. It’s transformed my skin.

Are you on Instagram OP? If so, have a look at Rose Gallagher. She's a great make up and skin care guru but she suffers with rosacea so often flags products that help her, worth a look? She gets to try lots of different things sent to her a only flags the things that work so she could act as a filter for you on where to start