rosacea?

[dminton]

Well, I have a whole new disease, called rosacea, and it's driving me nuts. My whole face is red and feels like one big nerve ending, even a hair blowing across my skin is uncomfortable. It's another chronic inflammatory thing, like IC and like so many other things, worsened by stress, certain foods, temperature, sun, etc. The first thing I tried for it, Metrogel, made me worse, and now I cannot use any of my glycolic acid preparations because I have an significant skin reaction to them, (they are irritating to begin with.) Steroids are contraindicated. The next thing to try is Cleocin lotion. These are antibiotic topical preps, used because they reduce inflammation. At least in dermatology, they acknowledge that antibiotics are anti-inflammatory!

Does anyone else have this? It would seem to fit the IC profile of being chronic and inflammatory. If so, have you found anything that really helps? Also, I had to start using eye drops because my eyes felt like I had sand and wind in them all the time, called ocular rosacea. The Zaditor eye drops worked quickly and very well. Not so lucky with the skin problem. Any advice?

[traceann]

I'm sorry I don't have any advice, but my ex father-in-law had it, and I understand it's no picnic!!! Hopefully someone will chime in, that has experience with it!! I hope it gets under control for you very very soon!!!

[Imustpee]

My dad has this and has for as long as I can remember...he gets a creme from the Naval Hospital...I did have him try Tea Tree Oil for a while and it worked very well, but he really doesn't believe in alternative medicines and went back to the creme even though the oil was working well......you may want to try the Tea Tree Oil...just don't put it on your face full strength...dilute with another oil that you can tolerate...perhaps baby oil or corn or veggie oil...

[lalarainbow]

Hi,
I was dignosed with Rosacea a few months back.. As yet my eyes have not been affected.. but oh the red face is so annoying.. my triggers are getting too warm, stress and sometimes for no reason.. Apparently acidy foods can affect it as well but with IC I don't eat much of that.
I am using something simular to Metrogel called Metronidazole and Noritate which I put on at bed time after washing my face.

I am also trying FaceDoctor soap and a cream that feels really good to put on. The thing is it is very expensive.. the bar of soap was almost $20. and the cream was around $30. So far I have not noticed much improvement.

Last Saturday I started Tetracycline for it.. and will take that for two months. That has made me really sick to my stomach so I have to take it with food which can affect it not being absorbed properly..
I kind of wonder if this could be hormonal related.. ?????? It feels like I have a sunburn. That is about the best way I can describe it. I feel like my internal thermastat is off and it shows up by giving Rosacea. the pimply red face!
Rosacea tends to run in families.. My father had it and so does my brother
There is no known cure but hopefully we can find our triggers and get it under control.. How does one avoid getting too warm ?(lol)
I have also bought Ombrelle Sun screen for sensitive skin. Other kinds just made my face burn and so much worse.
All the best and feel free to pm me
Pam~~

[dminton]

Thank you, everyone, for the good replies. My doctor just e-mailed me back and says it often correlates with a tendency towards migraines, which I also get, although I don't get rosacea at the same time or vice versa. I just got cleocin (clindamycin) lotion and was told it can take 3-4 weeks to work, so I'll give that a try. She also said it is definitely related to food allergy or sensitivity, which I noticed to be extreme with wine and chocolate, which I hardly ever consume, but when I did, I paid for 4 days with itching, redness, etc. Excruciating sensitivity of skin, too. Wish me luck!

[ICNDonna]

My cousin's husband had it and they put him on antibiotics. As I recall, his symptoms didn't return.

Donna

[cincurr]

I have a patch of something on my face I though was rosacea. My dermatologist thinks it is some type of allergy. It breaks out, is red and some times itchy and flaky. I first used 1percent cortisone cream and now we are trying clindamycin cream. It has been over a week and it looks worse. My friend who has rosacea uses finacea, not sure if I spelled it right. Dr. did say if my cream does work he would prescribe anti-biotics, something about a C-pack. does anyone know what that is? And how do you keep yeast under control while taking it. I usually take anti-biotics before dental proceedures and surgery with a diflucan pill. What to do when taking a longer antibiotic?
Cindy

[ICLori]

I have both rosacea of the skin and ocular rosacea (the ocular form showed up first in me.) Right now I am using Restasis eye drops for the ocular symptoms (works great) and using sulphur medicines for the facial stuff (works pretty well, actually, as long as I use it day and night and never leave my face free of medicine. I actually use a prescription cream which is 10% some kind of sodium and 5% sulphur. Can't remember the name of it but it works well.)

Blessings,
Lori

[dminton]

Good replies! I realize mine flared up terribly with wine and with chocolate, both of which I rarely use. I'm learning about this new problem the hard way! I had terrible itching, sensitivity, and redness. I think it was partly allergic, without doubt. But, antihistamines didn't help, and cortisone cream did. Weird. It was pretty intense and uncomfortable. It's calmed down now. I also eliminated peanut butter to see if that would help. I guess I'll do a trial after a couple of weeks. I used to be allergic to it as a child; I got asthma and a rash. Oh joy, more sensitivities and things to worry about not consuming!

The Zaditor eye drops (where do they get these names?) work great; I still want to find a face prep that works but they gave me generic Cleocin (clindamycin) and it was almost pure rubbing alcohol; very disgusting, where do they expect us to put this stuff? No where on MY body! The sulfur stuff was too smelly, and the Metrogel I may have to try again, since I flared right when I started using it, but that was probably from the chocolate, so it got a bad rap.