red skin help?
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Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:34 pm

I'm 23 and have had awful skin since high school - red, sensitive and often broken out, and it seems to be getting worse and worse all the time! I guess I would best describe it as dry/combination and very sensitive; the skin on the rest of my body is very fair (Irish heritage). I wonder whether I might have rosacea, but I've been to a few dermatologists and they've all just prescribed generic acne meds, which I can never use for too long because they always dry out my skin and really make it sting. Also, I find that when I try new products they usually work for about two weeks and then give up. Damn skin is tricksy...

I've always had a lot of trouble with my chin (have quite a bit of scarring/purple-ish discoloration there, but can hide it with makeup), but recently the bumps have spread to my nose and forehead. My cheeks are good, not too dry as long as I moisturize. I am getting married in less than three months and am desperate to have decent skin by then. I am hoping that you lovely ladies (and men) might be able to help me out?

My current regimen:
Proactiv cleanser/toner/'moisturizer' 2x daily
Proactiv mask (sulfur) every three days
Origins 'Have a Nice Day' SPF15 moisturizer (mornings)
Origins 'A Perfect World' white tea moisturizer (evenings)

I have only been using this regimen for a while but it seems to be helping. I am concerned that the SPF15 in the morning is not enough to protect my skin all day - it's almost always sunny where I live and I do have to spend 15-20 minutes outside most afternoons, but I am afraid to re-apply sunscreen/moisturizer for fear of making my skin too oily.

I try to drink lots of water to stay hydrated and not take long or hot showers because my skin is worst right after any prolonged contact with warm water or steam. My diet could be better but I try to get all my vitamins in - are there any foods that I should absolutely avoid or get lots of? I don't eat anything spicy and I don't drink alcohol too often, because I know they trigger an extra-pink complexion.

Help? Confused

free skin care · Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:43 pm

Hi Soxgirl,

Have you considered going to an allergist? I have eczema and there are certain foods that I trigger an attack such as: dairy (sometimes), shellfish. Lots of people are allergic to any type of nuts.. whether consuming or just being close to it. Perhaps it is an allergy that you have that could be causing you your skin grief? Proactiv I found to be very harsh on skin esp sensitive skin.

Please consider going to a good allergist for a diagnosis.

Sun Oct 02, 2005 1:39 am

hi Freckles,

Thanks for the advice! Eczema does run in my family... I try to avoid dairy (though cheese is a weakness) and eggs because those are my mom's bad skin triggers, but I haven't noticed any link between breakouts and certain foods. I will look into it though!

free skin care · Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:38 am

If your skin is sensitive and irritated it's usually best to treat it that way - keep your routine simple and gentle. Maybe using products designed for acne is only making your skin worse? When I was having probs with my skin, I found things like that dried me out, so to compensate my skin got oilier and that lead to more breakouts (not to mention redness).

I would suggest a gentle cleanser (there is a thread on here discussing the gentlest cleansers - if you do a search you should be able to find it), topical treatment just for the areas with breakouts (a lot of people have recommended Yonka Juvenil which you can buy from EDS or something with salicylic acid - MD Formulations has some good ones), a hydrating moisturiser and of course SPF.

Good luck! Hope that helped a little Very Happy

Sun Oct 02, 2005 1:43 pm

Thanks Princesita! You may be right about the acne products, but I've tried a lot of 'sensitive skin' products too, and they don't seem to help either with the redness or the breaking out. I feel like the super gentle cleansers (Cetaphil, etc) don't get my skin clean enough; my pores get clogged and my skin gets rough and gross. Sad

The Proactiv stuff is definitely way drying, but the scrubbies keep my skin smooth, which I like... using the Origins moisturizers on top of the Proactiv keeps it from being too dry, so I'm hopeful this regimen will work out okay.

Also, my skin does *not* like salicylic acid. I have used it in the past (and still do use it to clear up the occasional zit on my cleavage - works wonders there) and all it does is peel off the top layer of skin and make it redder. Sad

I guess I'm really looking for stuff to make my skin less red generally... or do I need surgical treatments for that?

Mon Oct 03, 2005 6:03 pm

Hi,
Dont know if this will help but i heard that strawberries and milk products are supposed to take the redness out of your face. I gave myself a strawberry mask, just by mashing them up and leaving on for about 20 mins and that seemed to help. Also i put a mask of thickened cream and rolled oats and honey. My skin seems to be less red unless it it just my imagination!!!!

free skin care · Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:53 am

My skin is exactly the same. In the past I was waiting for dermotologists to focus the reddness in my skin (which back then the skin condition rosacea was unknown to me), and all he did was overload me with acne meds. I did have a few zits...but since taking out nasty ingredients like salicylic acid or other drying agents which made my skin tight and wearing makeup over alligator red skin isn't too helpful...ive turned to a gentler routine, my zits are gone and my skin is soft. I see you've mentioned not liking cetaphil, which isn't for everybody. I also had a hard time getting it to clean succesfully, so now i use cotton balls to remove the film that it leaves. That method makes my skin feel really clean...Many people on here are always talking about natural cleansers, which if you do try..i would love to hear the results as your skin sounds very identical to mine. I also suffer from eczema, though i mostly get it on my body (arms, legs). Evil:( Goodluck!

Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:07 pm

I have sensitive skin too. From my past experience, it is better to avoid products with too much chemicals. Better to use the natual ones with simply ingredients.. It may good for you.

free skin care · Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:44 am

i also have roseacea and i use a 2% salicylic acid gel (Neutrogena Pore Clear)all over my face like i would moisturizer 2x/day morning and evening. At first, my skin did the tight and peel routine, and even felt hot to the touch but after about a week of consistent treatment, the redness was almost 80% gone and the peeling has completely stopped. This has been my routine for about two months and my skin has never ever looked better. It's so smooth and soft and you would never know that i have roseacea. The bumps have disappeared and the redness and swelling are unnoticable to anyone. I've even forgotten to go without makeup a few times and i have never done that before...

Thu Oct 06, 2005 9:17 am

Rosyface--that is great. Can I ask what stage of rosacea you have? I have been wanting to add salicylic acid to help with exfoliation, but have been too afraid. Maybe I should just give it a try.

free skin care · Thu Oct 06, 2005 9:34 am

gemlover, i was lucky that i caught the rosacea fairly early. However, i did get the bumps and the redness. The redness came very quickly for me more so than the bumps. The redness always looked like i had a fairly severe sunburn and i constantly got questions from complete strangers asking if i needed help and should i go to a doctor because i looked like i would keel over. I guess everyone thought i was having a stroke or heart attack. I used the Metrogel for a while and it seemed to sometimes reduce the bumps but never did anything for the swelling and redness. However, since i've used the 2% gel above, the bumps and redness have largely gone away.

According to this site:

http://www.drnase.com/stages.htm

i would say that i have moderate Erythematotelangiectatic rosacea but again i have it well under control and rarely have a bad episode. I'm careful to use the gel everyday because i don't want to go back to the old misery.

You have to do what's best for your skin and if you want to try it out for a few weeks i say go ahead but if your skin really can't tolerate the salicylic acid you will definitely know by then... this gel does not seem to have a lot of harsh alcohol(just because my skin can't tolerate alcohol based products well) so is it possible that your previous reaction to the salicylic acid could have been to the alcohol base like in a liquid toner or astringent instead of the salicylic acid itself?

Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:11 am

Rosy, thanks for the info. You may be right about the astringent salicylic acid. I'm always looking for that "miracle" or at least some improvement with this skin issue. Maybe this is part of the solution. Smile

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