I've had rosacea since I was 26. I'm now 34. The variety I was plagued with tended towards constant redness on both cheeks and eventually after one year on Desowen (thanks clueless derm) really evil papules and pustules.
Out of sheer desperation I began my search for anything and everything that could help... I was literally losing my self-esteem every day on top of feeling disappointed in myself that a (in my case) purely cosmetic disease was literally swallowing my life. I spent half my day trying to not stare at the constant angry patches on my face and the other half staring at them and lamenting the death of a once pretty girl. But I literally read the rosacea boards every day and never stopped looking for an answer.
Over the years I have tried it all: metrogel, metrocream, desowen, (another stronger steroid cream that I have mercifully blocked from my memory), eurythromiacian both topical and oral, tetracycline, minocycline, erythromycin, doxycycline, then V-beam (nightmare and I have the pictures to prove it), fotofacials (20 treatments), protopic and then elidil. And to top it all off the rosacea left my with totally sensitive skin. I could literally only put cetyphil and water on my face aside from the above mentioned prescription treatments, literally everything else caused a stinging and burning sensation. There was many interesting ideas on the yahoo rosacea website and I tried most of them, including the gold bond era treatment. Finally, after protopic sent my face into a nightmare adverse reaction (after working decently for several months), I simply stopped using any meds. I even stopped the diet modification because after months of monitoring I could never find an obvious food connection. My version of rosacea was never the flush kind. The patches and the pustules would be worse on some days but they were always there.
Months after discontinuing all treatment, I found a new study conducted through the rosacea.org about demodex in papular rosacea patients in Ireland. These patients we're having an immune response to the bacteria inside the mites. I had long since believed that my reaction was immune related in some way since whenever my immune system crumbled my face mysteriously improved. Plus, I had suffered from hives on my face and neck for years prior to full-blown rosacea. I read all about demodex and decided after all the western meds I'd put my face through that one more shot was worth it.
They warned on this website that the first few weeks were really hellish...
an absolute understatement, for me anyway. The first four months of treatment left me looking like I had a terrible case of chickenpox all over my cheeks. But I noticed that while I applied the medicine all over my face, the reaction was only occurring in the rosacea areas. So, I stuck with it. The metrogel portion was applied in the daytime and it seemed to sting like an adverse reaction, which is a very particular type of feeling.
So, I discontinued that and stuck with the night cream alone. At around four months my face would have a week or two of being much better than normal, say my worst rosacea day was a 10, then these first few good periods would be around a 4. Interestingly, my hives started happening again after years of just having the rosacea.
I kept using Xin Fumanling Cream alone and here I am a year later. It was such a slow process that I just stopped reading the rosacea boards, stopped begging for advice on this website, and just began living my old life sans looking in the mirror every five minutes. Now I won't say that this cream is a complete panacea. My rosacea is not gone, but my face is a constant 2 (out of an old 10) and has been for two to three months consistently.
Rosacea does not dominate my thoughts, period. In fact, I still feel it's improving and I continue to use this treatment only. I'm only back on this website now because my last bit of cream just ran out and I went on-line to order more. Three little tubs have lasted me an entire year! That's a deal considering my other treatments total $8,000 fat dollars AND no success at all. Once I came back to order and looked at this page I decided I owed this site a big, public thanks.
I still have some slightly pink days and I do have seb derm, however, my skin is not nearly as sensitive now. I can wear make-up, use moisturizer, take semi-hot showers and use seb derm bars to help with the seb derm. I still get the occasional pustule, and this treatment does dry you out,
but... this has worked. Sorry I didn't post sooner, but it's soooo nice
to just go back to living and forget about rosacea hell. Sorry this is so long and thanks again demodex!
Shana
Shana
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