Is this rosecea?

[Mulledmead]

Pic attached (hopefully). Appreciate it's not the best quality.
Late 30s. Skincare regime is Cerave wash and moisturiser. Recently added hyaluronic acid.
Don't use a lot of other products. Tend to just use Garnier SPF 50, BB cream and concealer during the day.
But my skin at the moment is rubbish. Red, angry irritated (pic is after nighttime skin routine). Occasional random spots.

Don't have much of a budget for expensive products or trying loads of different products. I probably don't drink enough water...

Any advice?

Hm, it could be - DH suffers with it, but has done since he was in his teens. Have you been drinking a lot more than usual recently, or perhaps indulged in a greasy takeaway? Things like alcohol, grease, nuts, spicy foods can all be triggers for rosacea. Too much sun exposure can also flare it up.

Thanks @sborber I Don't drink much at all. Red wine makes me very flushed. But I maybe have one drink (beer or wine) Friday/Saturday eve.
Diet is ok generally, always room for improvement, but rare takeaways and no excessive spicy food.

This is basically me, it’s recently flared up only on one cheek, I don’t have the “flushing” that google tells me you get but have those little under skin spots and bumps and properly irritated skin. I have recently purchased the ordinary azelaic acid - has good reviews and reasonably priced but too early for me to post results

I am allergic to fragrances and this is what my cheeks, chin and nose look like when I use anything with fragrances in it. I get different reactions on different parts of my body, so the dermatologist thought that I had both rosacea and allergy, but as this rash did not respond to the rosacea treatment she decided that it was also an allergic response.

Hyaluronic acid seems to really sensitise my skin and I get a rash that looks like that when I use it in serum form. Polyglutamic acid (the ordinary do it) seemed to agree with my skin much more.

I agree with pp that azelaic acid is great, it's an anti inflammatory.

Hyaluronic acid irritates me and I get a similar rash - when did you introduce it?

@Backtothefutureagain sorry to hear you're in the same boat. I will look at the azelaic acid. Hope it has a positive effect for you.

@Dilbertian that's interesting re:allergy. I discovered I am quite sensitive to pine needle sap which I think can be found in some cosmetics. I better double check everything I am using as haven't done so recently.

The skin issue pre-dates the hyaluronic acid serum, but the Cerave has hyaluronic acid too I think and my skin has been getting progressively worse over the last 6-12 months, so maybe I need to cut that out completely and see what happens...

I realised after years of problem skin that I probably have a mild form of rosacea. I used to over cleanse and stimulate my skin, in an effort to keep the spots at bay, but can confidently say that less is definitely more!

What works for me is a mild rosehip cream cleanser, wiped off with damp cotton pad, let skin rest and breathe overnight, then morning a wipe over with glycolic acid pad before moisteriser.

I have lots of broken veins too, but cutting out sugar makes them a lot less noticeable and the little bumps disappear, making my face smoother and a lot less red in tone.

I discovered I am quite sensitive to pine needle sap which I think can be found in some cosmetics.

And in many household cleaners. You don't have to apply some allergens directly to the skin to react to them. If you are using any thing with pine you could be reacting to the vapour given off while cleaning the house, and lingering afterwards.

Thanks for all your thoughts. If anything my skin is even worse today. So uncomfortable 😞
I am going to the shops later to have a look. As an interim measure should I just buy something like 'Simple' products? Or Aveeno? I have no idea where to start now.

i am going to cut out caffeine (with exception on one cup of coffee in the morning) and up my water intake too.

Your skin looks like mine. I have that redness either side of my nose too. I assume it's rosacea but AFAIK it's not curable.

:-(

Sorry you are so uncomfortable. It looks sore.

Could it be prickly heat rash?
My son suffers terribly with it in warm weather, and looks very similar to yours.
Not sure if it usually appears on the face though?

I hope it clears soon for you, and you find something that helps.

As an interim measure to moisturise your skin, you might want to consider not using any manufactured products. When my skin is irritated, I can't tolerate even Simple. I use just pure, cold-pressed, virgin coconut oil. It's solid at room temperature, so I scrape the back of a fingernail over it and that tiny amount (about half a fingernail) is enough to moisturise my whole face. It does not leave my face shiny.

Cerave really messed up my skin. I can’t see from your picture if it’s a similar thing, but my cheeks were inflamed with lots of tiny spot like things. I binned it and they went away quickly.

Yes, lots of tiny under the skin spots. Skin feels hot. I am thinking today there is some sort of reaction going on (there may well be a bit of rosacea underlying too). It is certainly heat reactive and gets worse when hot.

I went to boots and bought some Aveeno baby emollient wash and their face moisturiser, which has seemed to soothe things a little (it obviously doesn't look better yet but it felt good and not stingy)

I'm in a vanity catch 22 now as I am office based this week so will be very tempted to cover it all up with make-up, but I know that probably won't help matters!

If you haven't already I world strongly recommend Skin and Me. It's prescription strength skincare, you complete a questionnaire and send photos and they diagnose and prescribe, I think you would be well worth giving it a go. They also recommend a skincare routine to complement the treatment too, from cheap and cheerful to spendy.

No obligation but my referral code gets you months 1 and 5 for just the price of postage (£3-50).
www.skinandme.com/?promocode=REBECCAP59PC

I would also add that Cerave really really annoys my skin, I had to stop using their Hyaluronic Acid serum as was so painful, but the Superdrug Simply Pure serum is absolutely fine (and cheap). And Cetaphil much more acceptable for my skin.

Good luck!

My skin is like that with hyralonic acid and especially suncream,it's ear just with CeraVe.id ditch both those things and see if there's an improvement.