Taming Rosacea Symptoms

For the past few years, I've had rosacea. This draws a lot of unwanted attention to my face. Lately, this annoying rash has started burning more too. There are 4 types of rosacea, and mine is the papulopustular - or acne - rosacea that resembles acne across my cheeks and nose. So, that's the one I'll be discussing today. Although, the rash is constant, heat triggers larger outbreaks and the uncomfortable burning sensation. So, warm showers, blow drying my hair, exercising, cooking, overexertion from cleaning, mowing, other types of work can all make this face rash worse. And I do at least 3 of these things daily. 

I don't want to take medication, and I can't afford many of the creams that are recommended. So, I've started using inexpensive acne medication to ease the burning and significantly fade the redness from bright red to light pink. You will need to discuss other treatments with your doctor if this doesn't work for you or if you have one of the other 3 types of rosacea. 

I do like to use exfoliating cleansers (acne or anti-aging cleanser) on my face, which can aggravate rosacea as well. Also, my main reaction to the rash has been to scrub as hard as possible, but I'm finally realizing that causes more irritation instead of relief. So, gently cleanse the rosacea patches. And if you can get by with a milder face cleanser, use that instead of an exfoliating cleanser. Rinse with lukewarm water, and gently pat your face dry. After cleansing and drying, I also dab benzoyl peroxide gel on the rash. 

After only 3 days of treating my rosacea as described above, I already have the positive results I've been fighting these last 4 or 5 years. Less noticeable rosacea! The bumps are much smaller, hardly detectable and the bright red "blush" has faded. The day I took this picture, I had mowed, taken a warm shower, and blow dried my hair. Either one of these activities alone would have been a neon red trigger. So, apparently, the benzoyl peroxided continued to work as my face heated up.

I'm also just discovering that ocular rosacea is common too if one has facial rosea. I never connected the dry, burning sensation that I sometimes get in my eyes to the facial rosacea. So, now, I believe that this new eye symptom that has developed over the last couple of years may be rosacea as well. My eye will suddenly get very bloodshot and itchy. The first couple of times this happened, I rubbed my eye like all of us do. But that made the irritation worse, and my eye would be very sore, swollen, and red (also very embarrassing) for a few days, causing distorted vision and headaches as well. 

Now, I know how much that hurts and how terrible it looks after rubbing, so I like to use sterile eye drops to ease the itching, burning, redness, dryness, and gritty feeling. And when this happens, it takes all my might, but I do not rub my eyes when they start itching and burning. Thankfully, this happens only 3 or 4 times a year since it started about 2 years ago. My hope is that treating the acne rosacea on my face will help eliminate the number of times the ocular issues occur. A visit to an eye doctor may help you get a better diagnosis if these symptoms happen to you also. Your eye doctor may have better advice for you too. 

With that, I have more confidence when I do have to go out to do my grocery shopping or if one of the neighbors wants to have a chat when we see each other outside. I hope these simple treatments will help you too if you have these types of rosacea. 

Have a blessed day,

Patricia