I'm not sunburnt, honest!

[Sally]

Sorry, that should read "I was adding water", not honey.

Yes, add non-chlorinated water. The honey enzyme called glucose oxidase makes hydrogen peroxide when honey is diluted with water. That's just the reaction you're looking for.

[EnergyLab]

Thanks Ghost.

The honey does seem to have been helping.
I had a glass of red wine the night before my recent break out. I'm going to steer clear of red wine from now on and see if this helps.
My face got to be a real mess yesterday. This probably wasn't helped by the fact that I tried both new creams. To make matters worse, we had family arriving last night to stay with us for a holiday, so we had to go and collect them from the airport. I had to face hundreds of people with my face looking absolutely terrible. I felt very self conscious.

In desperation, a couple of hours before we left for the airport, I went to the local supermarket to see if they had any Borax or anything else that might help. The only thing I could find to try was.....Sudocrem (the stuff for nappy/diaper rash).
I have to say, it stopped the itching straight away. There was a noticeable difference before I left for the airport, but the other thing with Sudocrem (and a potential downfall of using it) is that it doesn't really "rub in" properly, and tends to leave a white trace on your skin.
So, my face looked whiter, it helped camouflage the redness a bit (by making it pink instead of red) but it does seem to help.
I put it on again before bed, and there was less redness this morning, but obviously it's still there.

I'll see if I can get Tea Tree Oil today. Do I apply it neat, or do I need to dilute it? Could I mix some with the Sudocrem?
I'm SOOOOO fed up with the redness and itchiness at the moment. It really gets me down sometimes.

@Sally,

I've been using bottled water to mix with the honey. Getting a decent ratio of mixing has been difficult (the two spoons of honey to half a spoon of water method makes it too runny).

Thanks.

Energy, if adding water is working for you, that's great. I think water might help release the hp in the honey. I found I honey I have is runny, so maybe it's full of its own water? Using it does seem to "refine" my skin. I never heard of those 2 creams you mention. But I think anything with "lipo" sounds like it's going to be emollient and good for your skin barrier.

Thing is, the chemist may not know a thing about mites and think your redness is due to a normal sort of irritation, not chronic mite infestation.

Can you get teatree oil? put a little on the red spots over night.

Windex is reputed as being a good mite killer on surfaces (the blue window cleaner). But I don't know if it's good for glasses if your frames are plastic or if metal and electocoated. Maybe you can just sink your glasses in soapy (handsoap) water for several hours or over night. It should drown the buggers.

For more info on the products you bought, just google them up!

G

[Ghost]

You can try putting honey on a damp face. I just do honey straight. There is enough moisture on my skin and in the air to get it going -- it works, after all.

You can also try hp-borax mixture as I have. Here, you would apply it several times daily -- just fingertips-worth.

Diaper cream is good. The zinc is soothing. I use Zinc-o from RosaceaCare. They have a "translucent", which is white; and a tinted. I get both and use them as I feel (trans or tinted, or even mixing both). They sent me an email today that each is reduced $5. So, a good time to buy. The tubes are big and last forever.

Yeah, alcohol does bring on the reds. You might try premium vodka + fresh lemon or lime + carbonated water + lots of ice.

Here is the rosacea care link: http://www.rosaceacare.com/eblast/zi...ams-spf20.html

I'll probably buy, as I feel my translucent tube is half done and the other not far behind.

re tto, some people like to dilute it with jojoba. Probably a good idea. I think you can apply it directly to a red spot.

G

[EnergyLab]

Thanks again for your response.
I went on a bit of a mission yesterday, having noted some of the items you used from your Bio on this site.

On my list were:

• Sovereign Silver
• Sea Buckthorn Oil
• Caprylic Acid
• Garlic tablets
• Lotrimin Ultra
• Zinc soap
• 20% Zinc cream
• Tea Tree Oil Shampoo
• Borax

What I actually managed to get (after a few hours and many different places) was:

• Sovereign Silver - (a really big bottle, complete with dropper)
• Sea Buckthorn Oil - I could only get this as part of a dietary supplement called "Supercritical Omega-7, from New Chapter. It claims to help skin, hair and the digestive system. It contains Sea Buckthorn (both fruit and seed), Omega 7 fatty acids, Rosemary and Calendula
• Tea Tree Oil - from Thursday Plantation
• Tea Tree Organic Soap Bar - from Thursday Plantation
• Moisturising Day Cream (wth SPF30) from QV Skincare - This was the only one I could find that contained Zinc

I can't find Borax anywhere.
Yesterday, after work, I washed my face with the Tea Tree soap, then put some neat TTO straight onto the red areas on my nose and cheeks, and followed that by putting the moisturiser on. The TTO really stung my face, but after 5 minutes or so, the stinging stopped and so did the itching. I also took some of the Sovereign Silver, and one of the Omega 7 capsules.

Before going to bed, I repeated the process, apart from the TTO.
When I got up this morning, the bits that were red were now dry skin, and I managed to remove most of it. Today, both sides of my nose are very itchy, so I might put some more TTO on. Only problem is, I'll stink the office out!
My skin is still red, but has definitely improved a lot since yesterday. I'm going to keep up this routine for a week and see what happens.
I also washed my sunglasses with the TT soap.

I like vodka, so might give your suggestion a try. I drink a lot of Diet Pepsi. Has anyone found Diet Pepsi causes them problems?

You can try putting honey on a damp face. I just do honey straight. There is enough moisture on my skin and in the air to get it going -- it works, after all.

You can also try hp-borax mixture as I have. Here, you would apply it several times daily -- just fingertips-worth.

Diaper cream is good. The zinc is soothing. I use Zinc-o from RosaceaCare. They have a "translucent", which is white; and a tinted. I get both and use them as I feel (trans or tinted, or even mixing both). They sent me an email today that each is reduced $5. So, a good time to buy. The tubes are big and last forever.

Yeah, alcohol does bring on the reds. You might try premium vodka + fresh lemon or lime + carbonated water + lots of ice.

Here is the rosacea care link: http://www.rosaceacare.com/eblast/zi...ams-spf20.html

I'll probably buy, as I feel my translucent tube is half done and the other not far behind.

re tto, some people like to dilute it with jojoba. Probably a good idea. I think you can apply it directly to a red spot.

G

[Ghost]

Energy, if the tto smell troubles you, use it at night. It does its best work at night, anyway, when the mites come out. You may consider treating your scalp with it, too. I do -- using medicine droppers. Do this at night, rub in well. These things love hair follicles (that's what they're stuck inside on your face, too).

I'm glad things are working!

I saw on a site you can order borax from Turkey. I think some of the places in the world it is mined are the US, Turkey and Nepal [awaits fireball comments if I got this wrong].

It is known by other names: sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate (from Wiki; I'm not that smart).

If you cannot find the borax look for Johnson's foot soap. It's a powder used to soak your feet. It contains borax. You can dust this on to your face at night.

G

[EnergyLab]

Just thought I'd give an update on things.

I'm still fighting with the itchy/red/flaking skin.
It seems to be a constant struggle, probably not helped by the Summer heat here in Dubai, and constantly sweating if you have to walk outside anywhere. I also suspect the air conditioning might be drying out my skin.

The two biggest annoyances I have are the redness/red patches and the flaking skin. I hate having loose/flaky skin on my face, so I gently exfoliated 2 days ago to remove the dry skin. My skin looked and felt fantastic, but yesterday I felt it getting itchy again and some small red patches developing, so I decided to try the honey treatment for 3 hours again. I then washed it off with Tea Tree Oil Soap, and put some Sudocrem on my face before going to bed.
This morning when I woke up, I was shocked to see my nose looking like a dried-up river bed. The skin was all dry and scaly. I exfoliated again to remove it, but my nose was looking a bit raw (like when it gets sunburned and you peel off the burnt skin).

I'm wondering if the Tea Tree Oil soap is too drying for my skin? Can anyone recommend a good face wash that should be available to buy over here?
I'm also not convinced the moisturiser I use is "strong enough" to keep my skin conditioned throughout the day. I currently have to carry it about with me and reapply a few times a day. It's QV Face Moisturising Day Cream with SPF30, made by "Ego". I bought their night cream too, but it makes my skin flare up in a red, itchy mess.

On the health front, I've been on a major healthy eating spree for the past two weeks. I want to lose a stone (6.3 Kilos) to get back to my ideal weight. I'm half-way there now, purely by watching my calorie intake (eating between 1200 - 1800 calories a day instead 2,500+), eating lots of salad and veg, no alcohol, and drinking 4+ litres of water a day.

So, my body is feeling good, but I'm still very conscious of my face