Help with rosacea please

[Ilovecreamycoffee]

Hello

I am trying to help my mother. She suffers from rosacea. I don't know what kind. She has a red, sore and dry face. She has triggers like some foods and alcohol and heat and she avoids all that.

She had tried all the pharmacy stuff and expert skincare stuff that is available is pharmacies. Anything labelled for rosacea she has tried from the known brands like
La roche posay
Bioderma
Cereve (spelling?)
Aveene

She tried other creams and ointments and emollients too and got advice from pharmacists. None of it has worked for her. She even got a prescription two time from her GP. Still nothing worked for her.

Is there anyone here that can help or advise about rosacea?

Has your DM tried the Kalme range OP? It's been brilliant for my angry skin. I first used it a few years ago - only the moisturiser - and it calmed my redness right down.

I used aqueous cream for everything else (as recommended by my GP) - for cleansing, extra moisturising, etc. I'd put loads on when my skin flared up (if possible, obviously!) and use the Kalme morning and night.

The sore redness was gone before I'd got through the first tube (you don't need much, it's very thick). Definitely worth a try!

No, she hasn't tried that. I will put in an order for some of that Kalme.

I have rosacea and use la roche posay but not the one for rosacea i use the b5 baume. Its the only thing I can use. It calms my redness and stops the sore raw feeling, no other la roche posay product works though

Hope it helps @Ilovecreamycoffee. The aqueous cream is very cheap (about £3 for a big tub at Boots) and useful for slathering on when needed!

Also I don't know if this applies to your DM, but drinking loads of water (preferably plain rather than in tea, coffee etc) helps, as keeping hydrated is really important for the skin to restore itself.

Good luck

I got Rozex on prescription and my rosacea improved after about a month.

I still use it, to keep the redness at bay, underneath normal moisturiser with SPF15. I've also cut out alcohol.

Has she tried a Soolantra prescription from the doctor? It’s typically used on animals to kill mites but works really well on humans too. I’ve been using it for a week or so now and it seems to be easing!

Azelaic acid really helps mine, I use the one from The Ordinary. I had extremely sore, dry skin with it a few years ago and I found that nothing helped the rosecea until the skin was more moisturised, when it was so dry everything just sat in top. I use avene skin recovery cream morning and night, use a cerave cleanser.

Soolantra prescribed by the gp worked for me.

She tried a prescription for a few months but it didn't work for her. She meant to go back but covid kicked in and she didn't go back. She thought it wasn't worth the hassle.

She currently uses la roche posay cleanser and a la roche posay moisturiser - the riche - because they are the only things that agrees with her skin however there is rosachea spread on her face.

I read about the ordinary azelaic acid. I couldn't find it anywhere online but I found a different brand that has azelaic acid so I bought some of that. I also bought her an spf that was recommended for rosacea so hopefully she will be able to use them. If not, I will give them a try because I do have a red face but not so much rosacea.

There's loads of bottles of aqueous and other similar emollients and stuff around the house.

I will recommend for her to drink more water too.

I had a red, itchy, blotchy face for 10 years until my new GP prescribed Finacea 2 years ago. It was gone in under a week and now I only need to use it when at the start of an outbreak and it's gone in a couple of days. I rarely need to use makeup anymore, my skin's that good.

My old GP told me there was nothing that could be done and advised green tinted makeup. Made out I was vain and silly for not wanting a red, sore face and sent me packing. I struggled with it for 10 years until he left and I mentioned it to my new GP, who instantly prescribed for me and I got my face back.

I find it so easy for time to fly by and I often neglect face skincare. I payed the price for it this winter. My face was so dry and sore. I am now implenting some measures and I think they are helping. My face is so much softer.

I am drinking a collagen peptide every morning.
I am using an amazon cheapie sonic facebrush with a cleanser.

I wonder would any of these help my mother for the rosachea? The collagen or the sonic face brush?

Anyone with experience of rosacea?

my mum has recently started having soolantra on prescription from the doctor and it’s amazing how much difference it’s made in just a few weeks. in addiction she cleanses twice daily with cerave and uses the ordinary azelaic acid (she orders from cult beauty, they almost always have it in stock). her redness has reduced massively and all the little bumps on her nose and cheeks have disappeared.

I find the lady GPS in my local practice to be fantastic. I think my mother has a similar experience with them. I don't think she's too keen on going back though until she has a list of issues to attend with. She said she feels silly going back about her face in a pandemic.

Hopefully the creams I bought will help. If not I will recommend for my mother to go back to the GP for another prescription.

Have a look at Dematica, sign up for 20 a month and upload photos of your mums skin and they prescribe what she needs and sent out a months worth.

Its really good

Just after looking up on sonic cleansing brushes on rosacea skin and it's a big fat NO.

I’m also on Dermatica for rosacea, early days but so far so good. I think you can get so caught up in forking out hundreds of pounds for various products, so I wanted to just try their prescription for a while to simplify my routine.

A lot of stuff I read advised against exfoliation for sensitive skin so I wouldn’t personally use a sonic cleaning brush as it could irritate further.

Do not use aqueous cream !!! Do not use face brushes or muslins either. Dr Sam Bunting and Dr Stephanie Williams both have good advice on their websites. Using emollient creams like aqueous cream makes it worse. The skin isn’t dry, it’s inflamed. She needs to strip everything she uses right back until the inflammation is all in hand. Gentle cleanser (Avene sensitive, then a light serum) NO heavy creams, no perfume, no oils. Probiotic, omega and collagen supplements help too.

I came on to say don’t use a facial brush! Gentle cleansers and moisturiser only.
The only thing that helped me was soolantra, if you google ‘dermadex mites’ it explains why some of the other treatment don’t worj.
From my experience the key is treating the sores and redness first, only then can you think about skincare and make up.

I have it mainly on and around my nose and have tried a few things with no luck. Excluding anything prescribed as the Gp i once spoke to fobbed me off so I didn't bother asking again.

Anyway, I found something called Rosalique, it's a green tinted moisturiser/concealer. I only began using it around 6 months ago. It really works to cover my redness both by itself and under any make up (I no longer use foundation, this is enough) and apparently if used regularly, because of the ingredients it can help long term too.

That said I can not vouch for the long term effects just yet as I've been furloughed on and off and I only use make up on work days and not just for sitting at home (it's pricey too but lasts well, you need very little) so haven't given it a good enough run to know yet.
Impressed with the immediate effects most definitely!

Thank you for all the replies.

I am writing all this down for her. I ordered a few bits already for her.

My mam likes to use muslin cloths? To clean her face? Is there anything that can be used instead? Would a microfiber cloth be softer/better? Or is she not allowed to use any cloths?

@Ilovecreamycoffee

Thank you for all the replies.

I am writing all this down for her. I ordered a few bits already for her.

My mam likes to use muslin cloths? To clean her face? Is there anything that can be used instead? Would a microfiber cloth be softer/better? Or is she not allowed to use any cloths?

She needs to be as gentle as possible. It might take getting used to as it won't exfoliate her skin as much but I would just use hands or cotton pads.