talkrosacea

Until now, I've never even considered that I may have rosacea. I was diagnosed with Raynaud's when I was little and always thought that the symptoms were part of that. I have very visible thread veins on my legs and red, irritated skin over and around my nose. Quite often, my face will suddenly start to burn and I'll notice that my face has gone red and blotchy in patches. Because I've always thought it was linked to my Raynaud's, I've never thought to ask about potential treatment. I can put up with the discomfort of it, but it's embarrassing and really knocks my self esteem.

I was initially diagnosed with acne and was prescribed a cream to treat that skin condition. That worsened the condition and caused patches of skin on my face to dry to such an extreme that it was peeling away. Finally, the redness, bumps, dryness, burning, stinging and itching was diagnosed as rosacea. Initially it was only subtype 1, but subtype 2 joined in after a handful of years. It means I blush easily, it doesn’t always go away, and it makes my social anxiety disorder considerably worse. 

I never had any skin problems until I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in my 20s. My skin started changing and became dry, flaky and patchy. I developed redness under my eyes on my cheeks, around nose tip and on the chin.  It started itching and every skin product started giving me an allergic reaction. I went to my GP and he blamed all these things on my Hypothyroid and asked if I wanted to try antibiotics as to him it seemed like rosacea but he also mentioned that it might not help and could give me more bad problems. I opted to not try antibiotics as I was already at the breaking point and did not want to suffer any more problems. 

I started searching the internet about my rosacea and came to know about many specialist products and websites. I wasted money on many of these but nothing worked. I stopped using all kinds of cosmetic and beauty products, and went totally makeup free. It used to be quite embarrassing sometimes going out without putting makeup on and with red patchy areas on my face but I thought I needed to give my skin a bit of a break and try to heal it with natural ways. I started using natural stuff for my face like oils, herbs, veg peels, fruit juices etc.. Now after 10 years I still get flare ups badly in summer if I go out in the sun but my skin is much easier to calm and looks healthy. I can use organic makeup and some natural skin products too now.The ultimate answer for such skin condition is that there is no 100% guarantee any company or product can make to heal rosacea.

I first found out that I had rosacea shortly after giving birth when my son was 6 months old when I returned to work.

At first I thought it was acne but being in work made it worse both physically and mentally, my colleagues were commenting that it must've been a rough night either with the baby crying or me going out when it was neither?!  The doctor had a quick look told me it was rosacea and nobody knows what causes it and packed me off with a prescription for oxytetracycline and finacea cream which she said would take a year to clear my skin.
They worked for a week and then winter hit so work was hot, dry and bright worsening my skin and the comments. So I  looked on the internet for more solutions and was shocked and amazed that I wasn't alone.
I took some advice from other sufferers and used tea tree lotion to clear my skin and am still on the oxytetracycline, although I did take a break over Christmas as I wanted to drink pop which is one of my triggers!

I dont drink alcohol and drink decaffeinated drinks in work, I'm getting less comments now from colleagues after I became brave and put them in their place about books and covers!! It's hard and the doctor was right in saying it can take time but, I'm trying to keep my head held high and will continue to experiment with different skin care routines until I find that magical elixer.

My husband cheered me up as a mothers day gift and got me make up lessons, never worn make up as I had no idea how to apply it silly as it sounds, over the moon that there's actually make up which is alcohol free and didnt cause a flare up. Its given me the boost I need to try for a promotion in work, fingers crossed.