I was diagnosed with rosacea early in December and I have been on a topical skin treatment of Noristat in the morning and Differin at night.
I think it’s getting better, but I’m not sure. Is this something that you can cure or am I going to have to keep forking out $70 in ointments for the rest of my life? BTW, I don’t smoke, I have maybe one glass of wine a month, and I’m hardly ever out in the sun.
I’m not looking for medical advice, just shared sympathy and experiences.
Have you determined what your trigger is yet?
Mine is wind, and not even necessarily cold or strong wind. I had one or two really bad years, but I haven’t had an episode recently. I was on Metrocream for a little while; it didn’t seem to do much. I guess my case is pretty mild. I just get reddish, lumpy skin on my face, and it feels warm or even hot. I have to be careful and shield my face if I’m going to be out in the wind a lot, especially in cooler weather.
I don’t mean to make light of your debilitating condition.
I just think it’s funny that, in some circles, the word for it would mean “a plant belonging to the family that includes apple trees and rose bushes”.
It’s not debilitating, it just means I can’t go out in public without makeup. 
I think I have a fairly mild case…a patch on my cheeks and on my chin. No pimples, just a rash. To my recollection, I don’t know what I’ve done differently, except increase my exercise. Sorry, though, I can’t give that up. I’ve lost seven pounds and I’m very encouraged to keep getting up at the godawful hour of 4:45am (that’s in the morning, you know) to hit the gym.
I’d lay off the makeup, for one thing. My wife has had rosacea, saw a reputable dermatologist, and it has pretty much cleared up with a prescription ointment.
My triggers are heat and exercise - I’ve had to change my exercise patterns because of it. Two years ago I went to a specialist and recieved laser treatments for the visible veins on my face, with great results. I haven’t done anything else about it, for now. I’ll probably go back within a year or two for some more laser treatments.
One tip I learned back when my face was very, very red: use a green cover-stick on the reddest patches before applying your makeup; that way you won’t be “orange”-looking.
A friend at work had rosacea. She went through a divorce (husband impregnated a teenager), lost a lot of weight (about half her size, I think – it was very dramatic), and the condition disappeared.
Maybe her husband was her trigger.
It could just be your genes. I got it from my Irish mother. (It’s not called the Celtic Curse for nothing!)
After having a clear complexion all my life, I erupted in ugly, painful lumps all over my face in early middle age. A series of steroid shots, low dose antibiotics and Noritate cream got it under control in a few months. I still use the Noritate 3-4 nights a week with no major problems since. I do have some broken capillaries around my nose and cheeks that I would like to zap with lasers, but because insurance won’t pay for it I’ll need to wait awhile.
My on-going problem is that it makes my eyes very dry and sensitive. In fact, I started having eye problems a few years before any skin symptoms, which I understand is fairly common. It was almost a relief to get diagnosed with the rosacea.
If you feel better with make-up on, go ahead and wear it. It won’t hurt a bit as long as it’s a non-irritating formula
Another common trigger is caffeine.
I have a touch of rosacea, but mainly I just have lots of broken capillaries - which I would love to have lasered but can’t afford (or justify) right now.
Wearing makeup all the time SUCKS but I don’t think it is harmful … I just find it very hard to find good coverage that doesn’t look like that old-fashioned pancake stuff. Plus as soon as I get warm or embarrassed or whatever, all the redness shines through anyway!
My dermatologist says I have EXTREMELY thin skin, and to always wear a ton of sunscreen to avoid making things worse.
Reading all the posts makes me think I have a mild case. I have a blotchiness, no eruptions, and it doesn’t hurt. NinetyWt, if exercise was your trigger, what did you do to modify?
I have rosacea. There are very fine broken blood vessels on both of my cheeks. They’re easily covered by makeup. I also have slight thickening of the skin where the sides of the nose meets the cheeks. I use Aquanil HC lotion on that, and it doesn’t seem to be getting worse, at least. I do not have the pimples of acne rosacea, thank og.
I work in a dermatology office, and I’m getting ready to get Palomar laser treatments on the cheeks. I’m quite delighted about it, as they’re several hundred dollars but I’ll get them for free. I’d be happy to let you know how it turns out if you’re interested. I’ve never tried the topical treatments for it, because I don’t think they’d work very well on my particular problems.
The worst part of having rosacea for me is the flushing. I blush several times a day. If I’m excited, I blush. If I’m embarrased, I blush. If more than 2 people are looking at me while I’m talking, I blush. I could have surgery to cut the nerves so that I never blush again, but then I’d be in danger of the dreaded Sweaty Butt Syndrome. I’d like to stop flushing so much, but looks like I’m stuck with it.
I went a step down (no pun intended) from the more intense aerobics classes to the medium-intensity classes. The thing I want to avoid is getting “flushed” in the face; that seems to worsen it.
I have rosacea. I am very light skinned and am of Irish/Swedish heritage. It started about 7 years ago after I graduated college, and my face was just always red, like I had a bad sunburn. It was horrible. My doctor put me on antibiotics and Metro gel. I did not like the antibiotics because I got yeast infections, but I used the Metro gel faithfully, but never really noticed a significant improvement.
Some things that marginally helped included: never scrubbing my face when I washed it; always using a very mild cleanser like Cetaphill or Eucerin; using a mild moisturiser for sensitive skin; staying out of the sun and/or wearing sunscreen.
However, one thing has helped it A LOT! Over the past year, I lost a lot of weight - 60 pounds. My face is so so so much better now. I still have rosy cheeks but I don’t look like I have a sunburn anymore. It looks healthy and natural. Although I do still have some tiny visible blood vessels. I no longer use the Metro gel either.
I do still get some acne breakouts a few times a month, but then again, I have always had that.
So anyway, I don’t know for certain that losing weight was the reason my rosacea clear up, or if it was just a coincidence.