Suggested treatment after trying doxy?

[lucass]

Hello Everyone! :)

I have been diagnosed with rosacea from my doctor, and I get the flushes and have p&p on each side of my nose (classic roascea butterfly etc). However I don't seem get much redness from drinking, hot food or the other classic triggers.
My rosacea now, after taking doxyclcine for a year is mostly heat induced i.e. hot rooms, direct sunlight, and also rises in skin temp e.g. when under stress.

Anyway the doxycycline capsules have done a good at keeping the big flushes at a minimum, but I have a constant low redness that is always there (like many others I would suspect). I really want to nip it in the butt. What is the next best treatment.. maybe accutane or IPL? and in which order

P.s. - my brother had really bad acne as a teen and took accutane which cleared up his acne and he has never developed rosacea since then - yet me and my sister have had quite bad rosacea. could accutane be my answer??

[IowaDavid]

Accutane might be something to try later after you've given some other treatments a shot. It takes awhile to accumulate in your body. And the doses you'd take for rosacea are far lower than what you'd take for acne.

If you've got standing redness, IPL would probably be the most effective way to take it out. IPL/laser is really the only way remove vascular damage that's visible--meds don't (well, generally) remove damage/redness that's always visibile.

[Lucass]

Just to clarify. Its like a constant swelled redness that is always there, but obviously not as red as when I flush. Its not broken capilaries or anything? So IPL then?

Also with that, do you have to keep having IPL every 6 months or every year etc, after the initial treatments?

[IowaDavid]

It depends on your subtype and the strength of your disease whether or not you have to get treatments again and again. And your doctor, and the machine used, and what meds you're on in conjunction with the treatment...:) It's not the same for everyone.

One thing you may try for the redness that's a relatively easy thing to acquire is the long-acting antihistamines--Claritin, Alavert, Zyrtec (OTC?). They helped my redness alot early on. Give them a shot. Also, you could try clonidine. That can help constrict facial vessels.

ALSO, if you're having that "standing" redness, look at your skincare regimen. Oftentimes you can cause cumulative irritation by the skincare products you're using, so that your face is never able to really be "at rest."
It's hard to tell, sometimes, what is the culprit. And even products that cause the odd "tingle" or mild facial sensations after application can be a problem, because it's repeated use that makes your face react--it gets red, keeps getting red, you get inflammation. When you take that daily trigger away, your face is able to calm down on its own.

IPL/laser is the best treatment to remove symptoms that can't be removed in other ways.

[Lucass]

Thanks for that Info!

I will try those anti-h's. I use a few things on my face daily - neutrogena deep clean cream cleanser or lately clearasil daily face wipes as it appears to be getting rid of the p&p, but gives me alot of tingeling afterwards and abit of redness. Maybe these cleansers are too harsh.

I have red late alot of these common cleansers can make the p&p go away but are not good for the underlying problem of rosacea and so the p&p come back because the skin is inflammed anyway.