Treating Rosacea, but not quite a Cure February 10, 2009
Posted by Joe in : Health and Fitness , trackback
So recently (few months ago) I went to the doctor because of a nasty face rash I got under my cheeks. This is my general practitioner we’re talking about now.
He decided the rash - which was extremely red, had a hot sensation, and was drying out my skin - was “contact dermatitis,” which is the general term for “any and all bacterial infections of the skin.” Not very helpful, but he gave me a steroid cream to clear it up.
Well, the cream didn’t help to say the least. Instead, it created a bright white “outline” around the rash. Didn’t bother the rash itself of course.
I went back and he recommended I see a dermatologist, so that’s what I did. At this point, I still didn’t even know what rosacea was, but she was convinced I had it.
So started the roscea treatment regime…
I was prescribed Metrogel and Finacea Gel, which is an azelaic acid. The Finacea burned like hell - which is a common side effect of usage. But, the rosacea had gotten worse in the meantime.
It now literally burned and felt like my cheeks were on fire. It slowly spread across the bridge of my nose. I developed acne-like pustules that just came went as they pleased, bringing with them intense itching and burning. The azelaic acid compounded this feeling - twice a day. The Metrogel didn’t seem to do much.
I went back to the dermatologist. She saw it had worsened, but explained it does take several weeks for the gels to start doing anything (it had been about two weeks). She prescribed me a sulfuric face wash - thick yellow goop - that you were to massage onto the whole face for 30 seconds, twice a day. Again, more burning.
One good thing started to occur: I no longer had ANY acne. Between the Finacea and sulfuric wash (stopped using Metrogel), I no longer had any noticeable acne on my face!
Unfortunately, the rosacea persisted and continued to worsen.
I lost faith in the dermatologist after 6 weeks went by and no improvement. I searched and searched online, trying all sorts of herbal and over-the-counter remedies.
It wasn’t until I read about the FaceDoctor line of products that I found something that actually seems to work!
They’ve got a couple different soaps (all available on Amazon) that go about $20 a piece. Not cheap - and they’re bar soap, so you need to lather it up in your hands then apply to the face for 30 seconds twice a day.
I tried the standard FaceDoctor soap for a while and seemed to help, until I got new pustules that just wouldn’t get better. I then bought another product by FaceDoctor - FaceSurgeon (sounds intense) - which is used directly after the FaceDoctor soap (again, 30 seconds on your face, twice a day).
Since I’ve been using Finacea, the sulfuric face wash, FaceDoctor, and FaceSurgeon, I’d say my symptoms have decreased 80-90%, and the overall “redness” has gone away about 95% of the time. I still get pusky pustules here and there, but its usually due to drinking alcohol or some other trigger (direct sunlight, extreme temperatures, etc.).
But I’d have to say, I’m quite satisified with this new treatment regime, and I’m going to continue using these products until either the rosacea goes away or they find a damn cure!
As a side note, I also take 500mg of Zinc every day, along with 1g (time-release) of vitamin B-5 (panthoetic acid).
I had read some comments online that acne suffers used these to get rid of acne, and I had started this regime alongside my rosacea treatments. I believe this also helped remove my acne.
Zinc is supposed to help metabolize the oil in your skin faster, while B-5 helps reduce overall oil production. I have an especially oily skin, and since supplementing these two vitamins, my skin is dry most of the day, I require less and less lotion (even with all those rosacea treatments), and I get acne breakouts when I miss the B-5 and Zinc dose for the day. So, there you go - two great tips worth trying out!
Sign up and comment to discuss if you’d like. I’d be happy to answer any questions!
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