Rosacea on my cheeks in my forties, advice on causes and treatment

[SaffySaffron]

I've developed rosacea on my cheeks. I'm early 40s so shocked and quite upset too.

Can anyone help or suggest what I should do? What's causing it? What should I do and use? Any suggestions welcome thank you.

Start with your diet - by that I mean food. Cut out certain things for a month at a time as an elimination process. eg is it better when you don't eat dairy products? Or Citrus fruits? etc You will need to test a category at a time for a good few weeks.
Avoid putting lots of product on your face, what ever you use needs to be a gentle formulation, no exfoliators and so on. Avoid standard allergens like Limonene, and Linalool and Hexyl cinnamayl on ingredient labels.

Azelic acid, 15% strength on prescription from Boots online. Finecea I think is the brand name. Cheap and works.

Cant advise

i have currently tried....

Azelaic acid
niacinamide (spelling)
Andddd antibiotic topical cream from my dr

all have done varying degrees of sod all.

This. I've just cut all chocolate/sweets/fizzy drinks - which I was consuming excessively while managing my mums dementia and my son's increasingly obvious ASD - and my skin has cleared dramatically.

Is it definitely Rosacea? I developed Perioral dermatitis in my late 40s, after having no skin issues my entire life.

Get a prescription for Soolantra. Rosacea is incredibly common in women in their 40s, especially if they have fair skin. Soolantra (ivermectin) got rid of it for me and now I just keep a tube for a top up a few times a year.

I have had success with skin and me rosacea prescriptions for maintenance but also have found (by accident) drinking and eating fermented foods (kombucha and kefir) has really helped. I also find soolantra good when I have a flare up.

I don't know about food triggering. It's only just flared up this past two weeks.

This happened to me too and was brought on by perimenopause, which is apparently quite common. HRT has made a significant improvement for me. Have you considered whether it could be perimenopause related for you too?

It's definitely not that. I'd never heard of it but I just looked it up.

I did a test with Ordinary and Renew +me, they prescribed me azelaic acid, it helps to reduce redness. It works well for me. I think you can buy lower concentration in the pharmacy/online.

100% this. There is a product called Skinorin at a slightly higher concentration of 20% you can get from chemist4u if you submit a picture of the acne to enable them to prescribe it. I have never had anything so immediately effective.

It sounds very likely. I also have anxiety and a lot going on personally.

In that case maybe HRT would help you too?

HRT has dramatically improved my facial flushing
it wasn’t traditional hot flushes as my body was ok, just my face would start burning randomly usually mid-late afternoon.

I’m currently on a trial of Metronidazole cream.

My GP kept telling me it was adult acne and prescribed creams and antibiotics I went round in circles it never cleared and I got so fed up I went to a dermatologist. She took one look at my skin and said I had type 2 rosacea gave me Soolantra within 2 weeks the difference was night and day. I then got a prescription for Klira which is ridiculously expensive after trying skin & me and Dermatica and realising that Niacinamide made my skin worse, neither company would take out that particular ingredient. I’ve been using Klira for 8 weeks and haven’t had anymore breakouts. I stopped being a spa with my skincare and have stripped it right back and added barrier support creams.

Got my gut health sorted and my skin looks great, I’m also peri (when will it end!) so that’s another fun thing we’ve got going for us.

My DH had this. He got a course of antibiotics from his gp which cleared it up. A friend also has it quite severely. She finds alcohol causes it to flare up

HRT has really helped.
I also find clear alcohol makes it flare badly. White wine, vodka, gin. Awful. Yet red wine, dark rum etc don’t seem to affect it.

Soolantra!!!! I tried everything for 2 years after getting rosacea at 39. Antibiotics, skin and me, diet, everything under the sun. 3 days on Soolantra and it vanished and never came back again. I still feel gutted it took me 18 months of misery to find it.

Is there anything new you have started using? A new SPF? A face wash? Try antihistamines to see if they help.

Just use Cerave hydrating face wash and Cerave moisturiser and give it a few weeks to settle down . If it's still there see your GP.

Not really. I did see Cerave and fancied trying it though. I'm going to Boots now in fact! I do have antihistamine tablets in the cupboard too.

It's always a good idea to clean up your diet and, if possible, figure out any triggers, but honestly, the fastest, surest way is to get a prescription for Soolantra. It doesn't work for everyone, but seems to have a very high hit rate. I used Soolantra at night and Skinoren in the mornings and it went right away. If I flare up now, I use the regimen for a week or so and it settles right back down.

I found this really helpful:

https://www.boots.ie/clinique-redness-solutions-daily-relief-cream-for-all-skin-types-with-redness-50ml-10073867?srsltid=AfmBOorp-KNcTKomkNH1W76ytt2wG_VYWIwJmDfbwIuMk6lk11V1yG3T

My skin flared on Friday ...its the sun with me. Dr has given.me metropolitan although it has subsided a bit. Flushing and pustules...very attractive.
Had to cancel all weekend plans.
Ive got some eborium green cc cream which covers it