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Sat Dec 30, 2006 11:49 am  |
Rosacea ~ A Cautionary Tale ~ Very, very long!!!
As the New Year approaches and we re-evaluate our skin care regimes, I wanted to add my take on rosacea and, hopefully, offer some advice to people who have rosacea, but are not aware of it yet. Don’t worry, it will make sense as you read on. 
My teens and early twenties were blessed with beautiful skin; I was extremely fortunate and I took exceedingly good care of my skin (unfortunately the wrong way!).
Clues I had rosacea – lovely peaches and cream complexion with a tendency to blush. The “blush effect” would last a longer and longer period of time after embarrassment, etc. 
What I did wrong - I was very pale, but, would tan a teensy bit. I was in the pool in the summer from 10 AM to 5 PM. No sun protection used, sunscreens were not available at this time. No hat used. I went to a dermatologist and received light treatments that produced mild sunburn + I was prescribed exfoliating cleansing products that I used twice a day!!! I also used an alcohol based astringent.
What I learned –
Before you are diagnosed with rosacea, evaluate your skin. If you are very fair with a tendency to blush, you might be headed for full-blown rosacea. Treat your skin accordingly and you might prevent further progression of the disease.
Never exfoliate. (I can’t use a washcloth, a cleansing brush, or any cleanser with grainy particles.)
Avoid the sun between 10 and 2; wear a hat, USE SUNSCREEN.
Do not use AHA or BHA. (Some people use BHA with rosacea, I cannot.)
Use a mild cleanser twice a day.
Find out what are irritants for your skin and avoid them. (Common ones = hot showers, alcoholic beverages, eucalyptus or peppermint in skin care products.)
Facials, unless done specifically for rosacea may cause harm, steaming and exfoliating are not recommended for rosaceous skin.
Microdermabrasion is a no-no for rosacea.
Avoid harsh astringents and toners, alcohol and witch hazel should be avoided.
Retinoids should not be used; if they are used, proceed with extreme caution. (Some research is pointing toward retinoids helping rosaceous skin; I, personally, did not do well with retinoids.)
Simple is best.
Expensive does not mean better.
I cannot use products geared towards anti-aging; products that are too active send my skin off the deep end.
Try to treat your skin like it has rosacea before you are diagnosed with rosacea; I really think that you can stop the progression of rosacea with proper early care.
For about 10 years, I used Crème de la Mer, which worked at first, but, then appeared to exacerbate my rosacea (maybe the eucalyptus leaf oil, I don’t know. I loved it, but, it stopped working). I try to go back to it occasionally, but, I develop redness and pustules. Just a word to say, my skin looked great for a long time with Crème de la Mer. If you have rosacea, try a sample, it might be effective for you. I was very sad, when it stopped working for me. 
I, also, used Sisley Restorative Facial Cream with success. Sisley Botanical Facial Mask with Linden Blossom is heaven!
Currently, with the advice of my dermatologist, I use:
Bio2 Cosmeceuticals Gentle Facial Cleanser (Advanced Skin Care Line);
Avene Thermal Spring Water, spray on after cleansing, dry face, spray again, and leave on.
While skin is still damp, apply Bio2 Cosmeceuticals Aminosome Moisture Gel.
While skin is still damp, apply Avene Cicalfate.
I do this AM and PM.
Bio2 Cosmeceutical Products are available at
http://www.oxymist.com/
Linda Sy makes a zinc oxide based sunscreen, which works for some people with rosacea; it is called ZincO.
This routine is supposed to help my skin repair and to protect my skin’s moisture barrier. I have been following this for three months and my skin is very soft and smooth.
I have also had V-Beam laser treatments on my face for the multitude of broken capillaries. I have had some success with this, but, I am not free from broken capillaries.
Bottom line, my dermatologist said that rosacea is the primary condition. Treat the rosacea and the rest will fall into place; do not try to treat the papules, pustules, or blackheads – they are not the primary condition. THEY ARE NOT ACNE. Treat the rosacea with a simple, gentle regime and the rest will heal in time. (They are a secondary condition to rosacea, not the primary presenting factor!).
I had blackheads on my nose and after following this treatment plan for 3 months, the blackheads are much better! My skin is still o.k. with very few wrinkles, but, I do suffer from redness and broken capillaries that I think could have been prevented with proper skin care early in my life. My skin is very easily irritated.
My mother, who is 77, has beautiful skin. She avoided the sun, did not get regular facials, and still uses Olay products.
I am fifty years old. I have had a basal cell carcinoma on my nose ~ USE SUNSCREEN!!!
Happy New Year. I hope this helps someone with rosacea or pre-rosacea.  |
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Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:03 pm |
I think most of us have done the sunbathing without protection when we were younger. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Talking of your mothers routine a woman I know who has the most beautiful skin & was a smoker told me that all she uses on her skin and always has is vaseline when she goes to bed. Go figure.
I tried that but could not stand the greasy feeling. |
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50, happy reluma user started 16.6.12 original formula. PMD user. started LouLou's ageless regime. |
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Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:25 pm |
| Avene is sooooo great for Rosacea. I didn't realise I was suffering from it about 10 years ago. I asked my doctor what it was she thought it was a rash and prescribed me hydrocortisone cream which didn't do a darn thing. She obviously didn't recognise it. A couple of years later when I was in Australia I went to a pharmacy and the lady who worked there gave me some samples of Avene EXTREMELY Gentle Cleanser and Avene Skin Recovery Cream. It worked soooooo quickly!!! I went back a couple of days later and purchased a kit with the Cleanser, Recovery Cream and the Spray water and my skin was healed. Great stuff!! I wish it were more readily available in the USA.... |
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Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:15 pm |
Thanks for the great tips Charmed1. I too fried myself in the sun and in tanning beds for years. If only we had realized what we were doing to our skin.  |
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Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:40 pm |
| loopylori- I new a woman in her 70's, smoker, not 1 wrinkle on her face. She swore by Vaseline. Said she put it on before getting in the shower and let the heat of the shower work. After her shower, she just tissued it off. I had forgotten all about that until reading your post! |
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Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:24 pm |
Hmmm. A cosmetic rep from JM told me that people with Rosacea should use products with glycolic acid. Also she said that Rosacea can be caused from mites under the skin. I have lots to learn about Rosacea and I have several friends who have it, but we've never discussed it. Thanks for the enlightenment. I'd love to hear more.
P.S. glycolic acid is an AHA, right? |
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Patty |
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Sat Dec 30, 2006 11:11 pm |
| My skin doesn't tolerate acids very well. One thing that works quite nicely to control the skin mites is oregano oil. Works a treat for me now I don't have my Avene around. |
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Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:24 am |
Yes, Glycolic Acid is an AHA. All skin is different and I am sure some rosaceous skin can handle AHA - in general, though, it is not recommended for rosacea.
My dermatologist actually recommended a glycolic cleanser and mask - they worked great at first, but, after about a month or two left destruction in their wake. (increased redness, increased sensitivity, etc.)
Mites are interesting - some dermatologists say definitely not, others say yes, some say maybe.
Metrogel and Metrocream are supposed to help with rosacea and are commonly prescribed for it - people surmise that they may help with the mites.
Other people cite yeast as a contributing factor and recommend a low sugar, low "bad" carbohydrate diet.
It is very confusing!!! All I know is that my rosacea got worse over time and a gentle skin care plan seems to be the best.
I forgot to mention that I use an eye wash twice a day on cotton balls to wipe my eyes before I wash my face, this has really helped with ocular symptoms. I use "Bausch and Lomb Eye Relief Eye Wash".
As an aside, I met my husband while sunbathing! We have been married twenty-eight years today! So, I probably would not trade my early years of sunbathing, but, it took its toll on my skin. I am just hoping that young people get the message that sun protection is important for the long term care of their skin. |
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Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:02 am |
Congratulations on your marriage anniversary!
Many more years! |
_________________
Early 50s, Skin: combin.,semi-sensitive, fair with occasional breakouts, some old acne scars, freckles, under-eye wrinkles; Redhead with hazel eyes |
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Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:05 am |
Thank you very much, sigma.
We are going out in a little bit.
Happy New Year to all of you ~ this site has been exceedingly helpful to me. |
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Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:22 pm |
Happy Anniversary, Charmed1, and thankyou for your post about what's worked and not worked for your skin. I've had good luck with Avene products too. I have either pre-Rosacea or mild type 1 Rosacea. I aggravated it last year with using too strong of products including retinol, mandelic acid, and copper peptides. Before that I aggravated it with a series of microdermabrasion.  I'm doing MUCH better now using a more gentle, less "active" routine. My skin really likes anything with aloe vera as the base of it...such as the Ice Elements line and Exfol serum from SkinBiology (2% BHA in aloe). I expect this is because of its anti-inflammatory properties. I think that is why metrolgel works too.
| Quote: |
| A cosmetic rep from JM told me that people with Rosacea should use products with glycolic acid. |
Patty, my esthetician is a JM rep as well and she told me the same thing! They must get that in their "training." There is no way that my skin can tolerate glycolic acid or any other kind of AHA. It's very bad news for me. |
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Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:52 pm |
It makes sense to me that glycolic acid would be so irritating to people with Rosacea. It burns me and I don't have it. I've gotten the impression from my JM rep that the thinking is glycolic pulls everything up from the bottom of the pore/hair follicle and therefore kills the mites. I don't have a clue, but I'm learning so much from you guys. Thank you so much. I'm sure without your guidance, I'd start pouring the glycolic products to my future Rosacea clients.
Thanks again. |
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Patty |
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Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:54 pm |
LOL, Patty! 
That mite theory is controversial. Not all studies show that mites have anything to do with rosacea, and the few studies that do show a relationship can not show that the mites are a causative factor (as opposed to an effect of the rosacea).
I think it's universally understood though that inflammation is something to avoid at all costs for rosacea sufferers. Glycolic probably does pull everything up to the surface of the skin but the price is too much to pay, IMO! |
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Compucat
New Member
 
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 8
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Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:05 pm |
Has anyone tried 'The FaceDoctor' line? There is a soap and a cream. They go on the basis of buggies causing rosacea. The products are made in China, but can be found at Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, and London Drugs in British Columbia, Canada. I bought both, as it said it is also good for acne. I have used both for a week and really can't say I have seen much improvement. I might stop using the cream as it was a tad thick compared to what I was using as a moisturizer (Biotherm Aquasource), and just give the soap a last try.
May we all have impeccable skin in 2007 |
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Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:14 pm |
| I bought the Face Doctor soap. I stopped using it after a couple of times because it was so drying. I'm sure the ph must have been sky high. |
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Terrylea
New Member
Joined: 01 Jan 2007
Posts: 1
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Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:14 pm |
Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum but thought I'd share my rosacea experience. I also thought I just had acne for years (am now 49) but it turned out to be mild rosacea. Yes, I had tried the peels, glycolic acid etc all to no avail and couldn't work out why my skin didn't like all the expensive wrinkle/acne products around. I have just finished a course of 5 Intensive Pulse Light treatments (not cheap at $400 a go), but they have made an amazing difference to my skin. The redness is gone and the fine wrinkles much improved. Still have a few blackheads but don't know how to remove them at this stage.
Have been watching ads on TV lately for Genisphere with Qsomes. Has anyone with rosacea tried this product? Would love to hear reports.
Aussie gal. |
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Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:34 pm |
| Compucat wrote: |
Has anyone tried 'The FaceDoctor' line? There is a soap and a cream. They go on the basis of buggies causing rosacea. The products are made in China, but can be found at Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, and London Drugs in British Columbia, Canada. I bought both, as it said it is also good for acne. I have used both for a week and really can't say I have seen much improvement. I might stop using the cream as it was a tad thick compared to what I was using as a moisturizer (Biotherm Aquasource), and just give the soap a last try.
May we all have impeccable skin in 2007 |
I ended up with cystic acne using Face Doctor. I had used if for three months and then I couldn't touch it again. |
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Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:52 am |
| Thank you, PocoLoco!!! We had a nice anniversary. It is back to work for me tomorrow. |
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Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:44 pm |
Interestingly enough, I looked up the Face Doctor ingredients and it contained seabuckthorn oil.
The website says: "The active ingredient, Seabuckthorn Oil, is clinically proven to kill the Human Demodex parasite. Cleansing effects of rosacea.
Made from natural plant extracts that were developed to deal with the causes of skin problems such as redness, enlarged pores, acne, skin blotches, rosacea and premature aging."
Has anyone heard anything about seabuckthorn oil treating rosacea or acne? I noticed it was also an ingredient in the 100% Pure Organic Eucalyptus Seafoam Cleanser.
It's ingredients are:
Organic Seaweeds (Kelp, Sea lettuce, Spirulina), Organic Green Tea, French Green Sea Clay, Coco Betaine (gentle coconut cleaner), Vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate), Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Seabuckthorn oil, Organic Rosehip oil, Extracts of Pomegranate, Grapefruit seed and Rosemary, Organic Essential Oils of Tea-Tree, Eucalyptus and Peppermint, Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate(plant amino acid, Rose ether
Face Doctor Soap Bar Ingredients:
Neat Soap Flakes, Seabuckthorn (hippophae rhamnoides) oil, coconut oil, aloe barbadensis (aloe vera), glycerin, sodium silicate, astragalus membranaceus, spirodela polyrrhiza, tocopherol (vitamin E), protein hydrolysate, fragrance.
Face Doctor Beauty Cream:
Seabuckthorn Oil, Stearic Acid, Glycerin, Glyceryl Monostearate, Bee wax. |
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Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:45 pm |
| Did anyone have any luck with the 100% Pure Cleansers? |
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Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:58 am |
as an asian, i never want to be pigmented with brown spots,or any tanned.
i just want to be snow white
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Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:29 am |
I've been dealing with rosacea since my mid-twenties. Yes, that's early--chalk it up to slathering my body and face with Crisco and sunbathing till I was lobster red. I did this every summer from my early teens. I believed that I HAD to burn several times before I could achieve a tan. I also had no proper skin care routine (I believed the harsher the product the better--if it was burning, it must be working)and did everything wrong diet and healthwise (caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, unbelievable sugar and carbs).
I use Metrogel to control the rosacea. I would love to be able stop using it, but every time I have tried to wean myself off, the rosacea comes back. I do use a lot of actives (all the acids, DMAE, C, etc.) with no problems right now. I think glycolics are actually helping the condition a lot. I do have to be careful to not switch around too often and to use small amounts.
My biggest rosacea triggers are stress and weather (my skin absolutely cannot tolerate cold windy conditions). I went skiing one night and it took more than a month for my skin to recover.
I've gotten rid of most of my bad habits except for caffeine, and I try to eat right, wear sunscreen, and be gentle with my skin--burning is not a good thing. |
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Best, Jeannine (40s, fair skin, hazel eyes, sensitive skin). To fight the dread lemming sickness, I promise not to rave about a product until I have used it for a long while. |
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Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:39 am |
I want to clarify that the only glycolics I use is MD Formulations Glycolic Cleanser every other day. I wet my face, massage it in for a minute, then wipe off with a warm, wet washcloth. It feels gentle, there is no irritation at all, my skin feels really calm and clean afterward, and there is no inflammation or redness.
| Jeannine wrote: |
| ... I think glycolics are actually helping the condition a lot... |
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Best, Jeannine (40s, fair skin, hazel eyes, sensitive skin). To fight the dread lemming sickness, I promise not to rave about a product until I have used it for a long while. |
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Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:25 am |
| Misskatblack, I just ordered the 100% Pure's cranberry cleanser. I'll let you know what I think of it. I don't have Roseaca, though. Also, there's a thread somewhere that talks a lot about the benefits of Seabuckthorn. You might find something with a search. |
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Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:24 pm |
| Tosca, I just searched and read those posts on your recommendation! I am thinking I might make a Rosacea beating DIY cleanser. Everything out there seems either soap (my skin would hate!)or with ingredients that may be irritating like SLS or peppermint oil. I am thinking would should all band together and try an make our own. I am thinking some ingredients that might be nice would be seabuckthorn oil, coco betaine (in the 100% Pure Cleansers), maybe a little oregano oil in a seakelp bioferment base as my skin likes bioferment. For those who need extra acne help and for skin that can handle it some white willow bark (salicylic acid - BHA). Any one have any ideas on this? |
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