A Rosacea Update
I wanted to share a rosacea update with you. I saw my dermatologist today. She told me that my skin is looking better now than when I first came to see her 2 years ago.
To prepare for my first round of IPL, I was told to stop taking my Metrogel Cream and only use my Oracea (pills). So that’s what I’ve done for the past month. My IPL treatment was last Thursday at Elan Med Spa. They used the most mild setting on the IPL laser. I don’t feel like I’ve seen a lot of changes in my skin yet (I did take before and after photos that I will be sharing later), but I know it can take up to 2 weeks to see a change from the treatment. My next appointment is scheduled for Aug. 28. I do expect to see more results after that.
After working out on Friday (the day after my IPL), my face was less red than it normally is from working out. Seeing a previous post-workout selfie vs. Friday’s showed a big difference to me.
My derm pointed out that usually it does take 3 treatments to see results so not to worry. She feels like my skin looks smoother and less red than before. She feels like it looks less dry, which I agree. So I’m supposed to stick with taking Oracea every other day, and if I have a flare up (break out) change to daily until it goes away). I like this because my skin is reacting better to not having the Metrogel on it.
She said the main issue that she currently sees with my skin (which IPL will hopefully address) is the redness. I still have a lot of redness to my face. Mirvaso can hide that, but it lasts 4 to 12 hours, so it’s not a permanent solution. It’s still a really handy solution though! She also gave me samples of a medicated green tinted moisturizer to try and see if that helps to counter the redness. It’s called Avar-e Green.
My derm feels like the fewer medications you use, the better it is for you, so she’s glad that my skin is responding well to only using the Oracea. I’m glad because I hate the Metrogel. I feel like it dried out my skin horribly and made it very thin. I’d far rather take the pill than use the cream on my face.
As usual, she checked out my current skincare products and liked them.
So I’m cautiously optimistic with my skin right now. I feel like the IPL will hopefully reduce all of my redness. I’m really grateful to find out that I can just take Oracea to control my flare ups and keep my skin in line and I can stop using the Metrogel cream.
I will say that I’m impatient for Aug. 28 to get here. I want my next treatment!
How are things with you?
I am so happy for you!!! 🙂 I have suffered a lot throughout my life due to skin related conditions. Reading about your skin getting better put a smile on my face! 🙂 I know how painful and difficult skin conditions and diseases can be so it makes me so happy to hear that you are doing better! I hope your rosacea continues to improve and that the treatments work out well! <3
I’m so glad things are looking up for you and your rosacea! Or rather, up for you and down for your rosacea 😀 I kind of live in fear of my eczema flaring up on my face as it did for one year a little while ago. *shudder* the stuff all over my hands I can kind of live with, but the face…not the face! 😛
Anxious to talk to my derm about IPL! I use Avar E LS cream in the morning and Finacea in the evening, which seems to keep my rosacea from getting worse but I haven’t seen any improvement depsite all the prescription meds I’ve tried.
I’m glad you’ve head of Avar, I haven’t tried the samples she gave me yet
FInacea gel works really well with my rosacea. Have you tried avoiding products with Bismuth Oxychloride? I swear that is the main culprit for making mine flare up. However, it is in EVERYTHING! It is so annoying!
As far as I’m aware, Bismuth has not been an irritant for my skin.
It takes me about six weeks of taking oral antibiotics and using Finacea gel to clear up my skin after using anything with BO. I usually just have redness, but anything with BO gives me these horrible zitty looking spots that won’t heal for anything. Apparently it is a trigger for a lot of Rosacea sufferers.
This is an interesting read Phyrra, thank you for sharing!! I recently saw a derm for mole checks, etc. and asked about “acne” and he told me i have peri-oral dermatitis….a type of rosacea and prescribed metrogel for evening use and if flare ups didn’t respond, then would move to antibiotics. i haven’t had any issues with metrogel with being drying, but my skin is also highly accustomed to 10% glycolic toner for daily (nightly) use. i dont have any skin redness, so having a form of rosacea is weird to me. In terms of the IPL, is that specific to treating redness? You also mention ‘break outs’ and from what i understand, the IPL is to help this as well? He also suggested to not switch up alot of products, and he mentioned makeup. Do you find this to be good advice? I am going to check out some of your other posts re: rosacea. I am looking forward to reading about your IPL journey and am thankful that you are sharing about it; thank-you. 🙂
The IPL treatment I’m getting is specifically to treat redness from rosacea. They do recommend not trying more than one new skincare product at a time, same with makeup. I’m actually happy to no longer have to use the metrogel because it dried me out horribly. The flare ups, when they happen for me, usually involve zits on my face, chin, around my mouth (if I swatch too many lip products in a row I get them on my lip line), but the Oracea has been handling things without drying me out.
I’m really happy you are finding something to help with your rosacea. You have beautiful skin. I hope this isn’t annoying, but did you ever try a gluten free diet or ever read about it? I keep finding people or articles about people going gf and their acne or rosacea or psoriasis clears up.
About 1% of the population is celiac. When Ray and I last got our allergy tests done, I came up as non-celiac (but I’m allergic to soy, which is in a lot of products, and bell peppers, which didn’t show up on the test but I’m violently ill any time I eat them). Ray came up as non-celiac, but allergic to wheat (which is bizarre).
I’ve read about a gluten free diet but I don’t think it’s appropriate for me.
Perhaps Ray is like me, not celiac, but gluten intolerant. Gluten just makes me feel bad. I get headaches and bad cravings. It’s not so odd to be non-celiac but still have allergies/intolerance to wheat.
Wait, what, you have Standard Poodles? Please to be posting pics. I really hope the IPL works out for you. I had pulsed dye laser and couldn’t leave the house for a week and had to wear serious cover makeup for the next month. It took about 6 months for the marks to completely fade but the visible capillaries were gone. I had IPL and got hives, which is odd since I am not allergic to the sun. We tried it again with me taking antihistamines but IPL was just not for me. I have a feeling you will come out of this with beautiful skin. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Yes, Phaedra is a standard poodle. She’s my angel 🙂 Maximus is Dave’s pug. Bella is my MIL’s akita chow mix. So I’ve got 3 furry babies.
OMG your skin, it sounds like it was so painful!
And thank you, I appreciate the good thoughts! I hope it works well too 🙂
That is great news Phyrra!!! I am not someone who likes smearing things all over my face, or taking a lot of pills either, and am impatient too!! So we have a lot in common! I hope you will be done with all this soon and have beautiful glowing skin and a smile on your face like the lady on the picture above!
Thanks Janet! My next IPL is Aug. 28,and I will have my 3rd IPL around Sept. 28. Hopefully by the end of that my skin will look great.
Thanks for the update! Would you mind sharing how painful the laser treatment was and how red/bruised your skin was afterwards? The fear of it being very painful and possibly making my skin very red or bruised is what’s holding me back from trying it.
Ok, let me preface this with some type of pain doesn’t bother me – waxing, as an example. This type of pain – for the worst parts of it, felt like a cross between being burned or slapped. Some people describe it as being hit with a rubber band repeatedly. For some areas of my face it wasn’t painful at all. But where I have hyperpigmentation and under my eyes, my nose and above my lips really hurt. That said, now that I know the type of pain, I know I can handle it. Dave came and held my hand, and I took a Xanax so that I would be calm and not move on the doctor. My nose felt bruised and was red for about 2 days.
Don’t let the fear of the pain stop you. They can do a test on your arm to show you what it feels like. They couldn’t do one for me because they were so busy when I went in for my consult.
Even though I don’t like the discomfort, it’s done in 20 minutes tops, so I can handle it for that amount of time. It’s just going to really hurt around your nose because it’s sensitive.
From what I’ve researched, you want it to be bruised because it’s most effective
http://www.skincarephysicians.com/rosaceanet/laser_treatment.html
“The researchers firmly believe that inducing bruising increases effectiveness. They also realize that this may not be acceptable for some patients.”
Thanks for the info! I once had laser hair removal done on my chin and I didn’t think the pain was that bad, but I was used to abusing that area with tweezing, wax, etc. This may feel the same but I haven’t abused the rest of my face with that kind of thing so I might feel it more. I might talk to my dermatologist about it again on my next visit. Right now I’m using Finacea in the AM and Metrogel in the PM and my face has been doing well. The only thing that bothers me is the dryness the medications cause, but I use Dermadoctor’s Calm, Cool and Corrected along with stronger moisturizers sometimes.