The red face

[Redfacegirl]

I want to give up. I'm 15 years old and I have rosacea. The rosacea started in December 9 months ago. The worst 9 months of my entire life. The worst part is rosacea has took everything away from me and I'm still a teenager. I realize how much worse it could be but is it to much to ask to not have my skin feel like its on fire? I have a hard time looking in the mirror because all I see is red. Red cheeks, red chin, red forehead, red nose. I hate seeing people who have beautiful skin. I would love to look and feel beautiful. I wish I was able to be outside but the sun makes my skin so much worse. I've been to three dermatologists and the doctor I'm seeing right now has rosacea himself. I know about 4 people who have rosacea but they are all over 40 years old. I cry about everyday and I still can't believe this has happened to me. I joined this so I could talk to people who knows how it feels and how rosacea can take away everything from you. I've tried over 15 products and so many home remedies and everytime something doesn't work I get crushed and disappointed all over again. This month I realized how important the diet for rosacea is so I'm only eating fruits and vegetables. For 7 months I was so depressed by my face I started binge eating and I was eating all the foods that make rosacea worse and I hate myself for that. I don't know if I can make it through my whole life dealing with this. Thank you to whoever read this.

[fanny]

I am so sorry that you are going through this. I am heartened by the fact that you are seeing a derm that has rosacea himself. What has he prescribed for you? Any medicine is going to take some time before it shows benefits. Lots of people on this board have had great success with finacea, which helps the pand ps and also the facial redness, also an oral antibiotic course can help with the inflammation.
There is a new topical that is just got FDA approval that is called mirvaso, see if you can get samples from your derm.
Please do not despair, is there anyone you can talk to?
Keep your head up!
Take care
Fanny

[LoisAnne]

In the past we have had young people post on this forum and I hope that some of them are still reading and will write to give you encouragement and let you know that you are not alone with your fight. My heart aches for those who are young and are dealing with Rosacea, it is bad at any age but to be a teenager and have it must be especially hard. However, things will get better. You must remember that.
You did not say what medications the doctors has you on but I hope he has given you an antibiotic to begin with. That seems to be helpful to most people. There are also topicals that help. Metrogel and Finacea are the most common. I don't think that many OTC remedies are helpful and I would avoid jumping from one to another of them because you may be doing more harm than good. You must give the medicine time to work, it can take months, I think. I know that you get impatient but I remember that it was a long time before I could see that using metrogel and financa was really helping.
As of now, there is no cure for Rosacea, but it can be controlled. Good luck.

LoisAnne

[Redfacegirl]

I am so sorry that you are going through this. I am heartened by the fact that you are seeing a derm that has rosacea himself. What has he prescribed for you? Any medicine is going to take some time before it shows benefits. Lots of people on this board have had great success with finacea, which helps the pand ps and also the facial redness, also an oral antibiotic course can help with the inflammation.
There is a new topical that is just got FDA approval that is called mirvaso, see if you can get samples from your derm.
Please do not despair, is there anyone you can talk to?
Keep your head up!
Take care
Fanny

Thank you for answering! I was wondering, have you ever used doxycycline hyclate? This one derm I saw a couple months ago gave me these and I was always scared to try but do you know anything about them?

[Redfacegirl]

In the past we have had young people post on this forum and I hope that some of them are still reading and will write to give you encouragement and let you know that you are not alone with your fight. My heart aches for those who are young and are dealing with Rosacea, it is bad at any age but to be a teenager and have it must be especially hard. However, things will get better. You must remember that.
You did not say what medications the doctors has you on but I hope he has given you an antibiotic to begin with. That seems to be helpful to most people. There are also topicals that help. Metrogel and Finacea are the most common. I don't think that many OTC remedies are helpful and I would avoid jumping from one to another of them because you may be doing more harm than good. You must give the medicine time to work, it can take months, I think. I know that you get impatient but I remember that it was a long time before I could see that using metrogel and financa was really helping.
As of now, there is no cure for Rosacea, but it can be controlled. Good luck.

LoisAnne

I wish I could believe that things will get better but every time I try to believe it things get worse. Has your rosacea gotten better? But right now I am using oats to clean my face. It makes my face feel a lot better but nothing truly helps the redness go away. I am also using EAU Thermale Avene, the doctor who has rosacea recommended this line to me and his wife told me who also has rosacea that is works very well. I used metrogel and It didn't help me but I know everything is different. Everyday I wish this wasn't my life, but I guess it is now. But thank you for answering my post! You seem so nice and if you're rosacea has or hasn't gotten better I wish you luck also! (:

[LoisAnne]

Thanks for your sweet post. Yes, my rosacea has gotten better, a lot better. However, I have never had the burning or the red face. My rosacea is the papule kind, the itchy and very ugly, red bumps that look like a bad case of teen age acne. I use the metrogel in the morning and finacea in the evening but I had to use them for a year or more before I realized that I was actually getting better. Takes a long time.
Interestingly, my dermatologist's wife has rosacea too, but the doctor does not. I always wondered if they met when she sought medical help! She has the red face type and I think it is harder to treat. Sometimes she has red cheeks and sometimes she has a pale face. He told me that she thinks that milk of magnesia works well for her. (she puts it on her face. I have used that treatment before but it did not help with the papules.)
I don't think anything works immediately so don't give up with treatments too soon. Like Fanny said, there is a new topical just out...but I cannot recall the name or it...check her post. David had posted some photos of before and after, using it, and it looked pretty impressive. Since it is so new you would probably have to ask your derm about it.

[Brenz]

I want to give up. I'm 15 years old and I have rosacea. The rosacea started in December 9 months ago. The worst 9 months of my entire life. The worst part is rosacea has took everything away from me and I'm still a teenager. I realize how much worse it could be but is it to much to ask to not have my skin feel like its on fire? I have a hard time looking in the mirror because all I see is red. Red cheeks, red chin, red forehead, red nose. I hate seeing people who have beautiful skin. I would love to look and feel beautiful. I wish I was able to be outside but the sun makes my skin so much worse. I've been to three dermatologists and the doctor I'm seeing right now has rosacea himself. I know about 4 people who have rosacea but they are all over 40 years old. I cry about everyday and I still can't believe this has happened to me. I joined this so I could talk to people who knows how it feels and how rosacea can take away everything from you. I've tried over 15 products and so many home remedies and everytime something doesn't work I get crushed and disappointed all over again. This month I realized how important the diet for rosacea is so I'm only eating fruits and vegetables. For 7 months I was so depressed by my face I started binge eating and I was eating all the foods that make rosacea worse and I hate myself for that. I don't know if I can make it through my whole life dealing with this. Thank you to whoever read this.

Hallo 'Redfacegirl',
I'm new to the forum and found your post whilst browsing. If you look at my first post you will see I am 70yrs old and said I was very glad I didn't have to deal with rosacea when I was young. Old I might be but I remember how it felt to be 15 and it isn't difficult to understand how this problem makes you feel.
I would like to ask if your despair has diminished somewhat since you posted and if you've found the resolve to cope and deal with this condition as best you can. Not easy, I know, but I would like to know how you are feeling now. Wishing you all the best. Brenz