New here, take a look.

[Timmy]

Hi everybody,

This is my first time here and my first post.

I have been trying to figure out why I am in my 30's and I still have acne.
Well I guess I found out I have rosacea not acne. A friend told me it looked like rosacea the other day when I was bitchin about my face being the way it is. So I thought I'd check it out and I must say I am pretty depressed now. It seems I will have this for a while.

SO, heres a pic of me so you can see for yourself. I look like a lot of the people here. I am going to get some treatment for this ASAP. I hate it.
I'll leave it at that. I had bad acne all through my teens and into my 20's I just finally got rid of the acne a few years ago and now I have this. WTF?


http://home.comcast.net/~tdalek/tim1.jpg

This is how I've been looking for the past 9 months. Sometimes a bit better and sometimes a bit worse than this. It sometimes takes a road-trip down to my mouth and chin too, which is always a hoot. But this is about average for me now. Never had clear skin since this started.

I will be reading the rest of the posts here with great interest.

Later,

Tim

[IowaDavid]

Do you flush and get general, diffuse, redness, too?

Your skin is so pale, there, but you have some clusters of acneform lesions where a rosacea sufferer might flush/get papules/pustules.

By all means -- please read and educate yourself; to my eye, from those pictures, it doesn't look like rosacea. Perhaps someone here with a good feel about papulopustular rosacea symptoms may be of help?

Good luck,


David

[Timmy]

I hope you are right. I just don't know what else it could be. I haven't been diagnosed by an MD yet but I plan to see someone ASAP.
I do not get the bright red flushing that I have seen on some people.

Thanks for your reply. I will see what comes of this. I don't care what it is really, I just want it to go away!
LIke I said I had acne for most of my life and then once I finally got rid of it I had a few years of looking pretty normal save a few stray pimples and then this hit me. Booo.
PS- I tried OXY pads and stridex pads which I used to use for acne and they all seem to just make it worse and more irritated.

[redhotoz]

Hi Tim

Please do up-date once you have been to see your doc. It would be awful to be mis-diagnosed with Rosacea and have to deal with it, if it isn't Rosacea.

Check out this web site:

http://dermatlas.med.jhmi.edu/derm/

It shows lots of photos of particularly bad cases of different skin problems. It might help you a little to compare your face with those on the site. They call it "Acne Roscea" in this web site.

Sorry, I'm not giving you any answers here! I would be really interested to see what your doc has to say.

Oh, by the way, welcome to the Forum!

Red

[FLYBOY109]

Hey Tim. I think you do have rosacea since this is exactly{except fo the forehead}symptoms I had. I also did not have any flushing at first, but started to flush a bit later. I still am not a big flusher and I think we are fortunate for that since your rosacea like mine is easier to treat. Do not use any harsh topicals such as acne medications and avoid things that make you flush and you can avoid like I did the potential progression.
I would use noritate and maybe also take an antibiotic subscribed by your doctor for a few weeks to knock this out and then just use the noritate once or twice a day. Do a test spot with the noritate to make sure you are not allergic. You probably damaged your blood vessels with the acne medication, but the good news is you will probably be very treatment friendly. My rosacea started when my doctor subscribed a cholesterol medication which made me flush and probably started to damage my blood vessels. I have stopped that medication and am in remission. good luck. keep us posted.

[Timmy]

Thanks for the replies and thanks for the link redhotoz.
I have an appointment with GP in a week. He'll prob. send me to a DT though. We'll see.

[Bob Bear]

Certainly looks like rosacea P&P. Hopefully the derm should be able to help you out with that.

BB

[claudia]

Hi Timmy --- your skin looks like my chin and forehead when I'm "flaring". Isn't it awful? When I'm flaring I can hardly leave the house. Am just now getting over a flare. Was taking doxy but it abruptly stopped working...although I had cues it wasn't doing the job...some small pustules that I ignored hoping they'd eventually go away but instead woke one morning to dime sized swelling on chin that turned into nasty big red puss filled welt (yuck --- sorry for the graphics)...then I got another and another and then absolutely freaked out. Called my dermatologist nonstop to help me. She graciously phoned in a new drug - Bactrim (sulfa) - and the next day I was healing!!! And haven't gotten a blemish since (almost 2 weeks now...). Redness is gone too. I also switched back to Metrogel .75% 2x/day...was using 1% 1x/day but it didn't seem to absorb into my skin too well. Plus I think I need something on my skin all the time (voodoo???). Went into see her and she says I have a combination of mild rosacea and cystic acne. Mine just isn't the P&P rosacea variety. Cystic acne is hormonally driven so to deal with this combo she's changed my regime to Bactrim 100mg 2x/day + Metrogel .75% 2x/day + Spironolactone 75 mg 1x/day. She basically upped the hormone fighting drug (spiro) and used a drug more effective for cysts (bactrim). The metrogel takes care of the rosacea. Phew! HATE TAKING ALL THESE DRUGS...but hate it more if I don't...oh well just happy to find something that's working!!! And we're going to slowly lower dosages month by month till we find a maintenance regime. It took awhile for my derm to really understand what was happening but now she seems to be really working with me to get this under control.

Hang in there --- pester your dermatologist to help...keep a detailed diary - it helps the dr fine tune things.

[Bonefish]

Welcome to forum Timmy. Could you or someone else tell me excactly how to put my pictures there. Im really newbie for these things and would really like to upload pics.

[redhotoz]

Hi Bonefish

The Sticky note in the Photo section gives details about how to upload a picture:

http://forum.rosaceagroup.org/viewtopic.php?t=947

Red

[prometheus]

Timmy, looks just like what I have..... finacea has been the gold standard for me.. knocks those pesky things away in a day or two for me. Read up though, as you'll see... some treatments work well for some but not others.... truly a great disease you just joined the ranks of.

I have the exact same subtype as you though, and its 99% under control, this is what I do just so you have one persons regimen.

Never wash your face with soap again, this is probably the best advice I could ever give to someone. I use dove moisturizer bars, but read up and you will find lots of gentle cleansers. I just happen to use dove and love it.

Once a week I wash my face with plexion face wash... smells like sulpher so I use it at night when I'm not going out. next morning when I shower and use the dove washes the smell right away.

Finacea twice a day, morning and night. I alos used noritate with great success but after I started using finacea I stopped the noritate.

Now, for the things that I do that may or may not help.... I certainly think they do help though.

Drink lots of water.
I take milk thistle once a day.
I eat flax seed oil once a day.

I never tried grape seed extract but have thought about it because I have read that it has helped lots of people.

Have faith, you will get better. You will have to try your own regimens to find out what works best for you.

And most importantly

NEVER LOSE HOPE!

You can hit me up anytime if you ever have any questions, I'm always here to help anyone that is actually looking for help.

[Bonefish]

Hi Bonefish

The Sticky note in the Photo section gives details about how to upload a picture:

http://forum.rosaceagroup.org/viewtopic.php?t=947

Red

Thanks. Should be little bit more important before asking. Thought that thread was just for some rules at the photos section.. Mods should name it like "How to upload pictures" that dum peoples like me would open it :D

[redhotoz]

Hi Bonefish

The Sticky note in the Photo section gives details about how to upload a picture:

http://forum.rosaceagroup.org/viewtopic.php?t=947

Red

Thanks. Should be little bit more important before asking. Thought that thread was just for some rules at the photos section.. Mods should name it like "How to upload pictures" that dum peoples like me would open it :D

Thanks. Suggestion taken on board! Have changed the title of the Sticky Post. :)

Red

[Mollie_T]

I don't know what part of WV you're from, but I found a new dermatologist in Charleston named Kimberly Rossi. She is new to the area & taking new patients. Several of my family members are now going to her, we are all "blessed" with rosacea. If you live fairly close look her up :) Good luck.

[joeshmo]

Tim, have you tried accutane?

[Tioh2001]

Timmy,

Here is my opinion.....you have Demodex, not Rosacea.

Please go to the www.demodexsolutions.com website and read the material there. They sell a product called the ZhongZhou ointment. It worked for me and many others.

Hope this helps.

Heather

[redhotoz]

Hi Heather

Well, my understanding is that everyone has Demodex Mites - even non-Rosaceans! The theory is that Rosaceans have more of them, but not enough research to prove either way that it is a part of the cause of Rosacea or not. I haven't ruled it out myself but I'm not sure what is meant by "you have Demodex, not Rosacea"?

Heather, did you ever go ahead and buy that red light lamp that you were interested in last year?

Jen

[RedHotCanuck]

You can tell that a person has demodex mites by a picture? I doubt that.

[Tioh2001]

RedHotCanuck,

I did not give a diagnosis, I gave an opinion. And of course I can form an opinion based on a picture and based on Timmy's description.

I have been battling demodex for many years (as well as rosacea) and in my opinion the blemishes on Timmy's face are from demodex. I also believe that many people with p&p's which have been attributed to rosacea are actually caused by demodex.

And when Timmy said the blemishes "sometimes takes a road-trip down to my mouth and chin" this re-inforced my opinion, as demodex blemishes/rashes tend to "travel" around.

Of course, whether the ZZ ointment can help him, can only be determined if he gives it a try.

Just trying to help a fellow sufferer.

Heather

[Tioh2001]

Hi Jen,

You are right, the majority of people have demodex. But most people do not have a population great enough to give them noticiable symptoms.

Whether demodex leads to rosacea, or whether rosacea leads to an increase in demodex or whether they are 2 separate conditions doesn't matter to me. I only care about reducing my symptoms, and if I have to attack each symptom one by one, then that's what I do! I've had good luck reducing the p&p problem on my face by treating myself for demodex. It's a tough problem to treat, but I have made good progress.

In looking at Timmy's photo, I see no sign of flushing or redness, and he said in his second note that "he does not get the bright red flushing I have seen on some people". So, based on all of this it does not look (or sound) like he has rosacea to me. But, based on the look of his p&p's he definitely looks to me that he has demodex.

Thanks for asking about the red/infrared light I inquired about last year. Yes, I am using it. I am almost at the 6 month mark, and I have had INCREDIBLE success with it. My worse symptoms are flushing (year round) and burning pain (mostly in winter). For the first 3 months of using the red/infrared lamp on a daily basis, I saw no improvment in my flushing/burning. Then all of a sudden (just after the 3 month mark), my symptoms reduced dramatically! I am very happy with this product and hopefully with continued use, I will get even more reduction in my symptoms. I live in hope of one day being completely free of all flushing and burning pain.

Heather

[redhotoz]

Thanks for the info Heather and sorry for the delayed reply. I've been on holidays. Well not really holidays but helping Mum and Dad pack boxes for when they move house in a few weeks. So, now I'm home for a holiday! Whew! LOL

Your thoughts on Demodex Mites are very interesting. I hadn't thought of separating Rosacea from Demodex Mite infestation. From what I have read, most theories attempt to link the two together. Very interesting. Thank you. More food for thought! :)

Very glad to hear that the red/infrared light has been working for you. My red LED array should arrive next week and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it works for me.

Your approach to tackling your symptoms one by one is a great idea. I know when I started out, I wanted to read everything and do it all at once. At the end of the day, that approach made it plain confusing! So, now I take my time and try to focus on one thing at a time. Well, TRY is the ultimate word there because when I read one thing, it leads to another and I find myself researching many topics at the same time! Agghhh! But I do try to only introduce one thing at a time (regardless of what I am reading up on) and give it a good go before deciding if it is working or not - being meds or topicals or supplements or my latest being diet. Diet is a lot harder but I think it will be worth it in the end.

All the best Heather.

Jen