Galderma, for reasons unknown, decided to rebrand the newly FDA approved Mirvaso as ONRELTEA in Canada (yes they use all capitals in the brand name).
This continues the tradition for Galderma of split North American branding; Oracea in the US is known as Efracea in Canada.
There is already some history of user experiences of Mirvaso from the US. So in general the user review for Mirvaos will also apply for ONRELTEA.
For instance you can see 495 user comments and growing at Mirvaso User Reviews.
If you have tried ONRELTEA and have some thoughts for your fell Canadian rosacea sufferer, please leave a comment below.
User Reviews
Hi everyone,
I wish I had looked on this forum before I tried Mirvaso (or Onreltea in Canada). This worked amazing for 3 days then on the fourth I was so hot and red I thought I was having an allergic reaction.I’ve been off the stuff for 3 days but am still so red and hot I need to use ice packs to cool down. I have had laser in the past so my rosacea was probably mild to begin with; now it is worse than ever.
What I want to know is if this effect will go away and how long it will take? What can I do in the meantime? Thanks
Ray says :
You can put another one in the negative category. I went through 1 tube of Mirvaso, known as Onreltea here in Canada, and I have absolutely nothing good to say other than for the first few applications it appeared to reduce the baseline redness by around 50 percent.
After that it stopped working and at this point actually making my face flushed after application. I’ve heard some people are using smaller amounts in moisturizer which I may try later on..
Well it looks like it’s back to the drawing board for me. I just hope my skin returns to baseline.. I should note I have Accutane induced rosacea.
My dermatologist prescribed Onreltea for my facial redness, and it really does work wonders. It’s expensive, costing $142.00 per 30g tube, as it’s not covered by my insurance company. However, despite the cost it’s well worth the money.
I started using Onreltea about 5 weeks ago, once a day in the morning and then I use Metrogel at night. It’s definitely helped with my redness but I’m not quite convinced that it’s effective for 12 hours as it states, more like 8-10 and I still need to be careful of what I’m eating and drinking. It is very expensive $140 for 30g tube which lasts about a month. If I can answer any questions I’m happy to.
Rod says :
Onreltea was approved recently for sale in Canada (that’s the commercial name for Mirvaso) and my doctor reccomended me to use it since I have a mild rosacea.
I started using it 13 days ago. First 7 days it was good, no wonderful but improved my redness in around 50%-60%. I noticed after the 10-12 hours the face went back to the usual red level and maybe a little bit more than before but I was happy with the result. Unfortunately the day 8 I had my first bad reaction. I was in a parent meeting at my daugther’s school and in the middle of the meeting I started to feel my face very hot and it was super-red. It lasted for approximately half hour so I thought maybe the room was very hot or something activated that reaction. I want to mention I had never had those type of flushing redness.
Next day I have a similar experience in the morning but this time it lasted for around one hour. At night my wife told me my face looked swelled and super red again. I reviewed comments in the internet, sent an e-mail to my doctor and I stopped using the product.
I am now in the day 13 and I still having those sudden reactions but because of those bad moments in general my face is now more red than ever.
This is a terrible experience. I will have an appointment with my doctor in a couple weeks and I hope we can find a solution; it is not just the redness issue it is the felling your face is burning.
I share my experience because I think someone thingking in the product shopuld see this information. I hope I am one of those strange cases but for the different forums in the internet I think it is not.
I tried ONRELTEA about a week ago. I use it only in the morning and only a pea size amount. It was easy to spread and no smell. I put it on first thing in the morning and have not added any sunscreen or moisturizer during the day as I was afraid I would react. At night I only put my moisturizer on. The first couple days I looked very pale (like a vampire as others have mentioned). I reduced the amount I was using and my face has seem to adjust nicely and am quite pleased with the results.
As I have not spent much time in the sun (since I was not wearing sunscreen) this past week I am not sure how I will react to the sun. I am going to add my sunscreen/moisturizer today and hope my luck with ONRELTEA continues.
I have tried Onreltea for 2 days now and have some minimal patchy relief but not enough for me to spend that much money when it looks like I will still have to use major coverup to hide my rosacea. I was lucky enough to try a sample and did not have to invest over $100 to be disappointed. I had such high hopes for this new rx.
I, like many others on this site, was so excited at the opportunity to have a cream that reduced the horrible redness and make my life seem so much better. TEMPORARILY. I carried this stuff everywhere, used it regularly at 10:30 am to get me through the day. (didn’t have redness before that time or really until lunchtime where i’d flush) and for the first month, things were ok. Mid-way through the month I recognized evening flushing was getting a lot worse and nothing was helping. It’s not until i got on here and started reading that so many have this same issue. Today is my first day ditching the cream, I’m at work and I dread the first flush i get. I assumed the dermatologist knew what she was doing, I trusted the wrong person. My flushing never existed before the cream, now i hope to hell I don’t have to live with it. My cheeks are mildly burning with no treatment at all today. Let’s just say it was like a honeymoon that ended rather abruptly! I caution anyone thinking of trying this to think twice. The active ingredient will do more harm than good in the long term and the face is not an area you want to play around with!
Went to the drug store today and got some anti-redness products that have no side effects and hopefully we help me get through the ‘weaning off’ timeline.
I have the exact same issue as Tanya. I had rosacea but no flushing. Now my face is red and puffy… I will not use the cream for the next while to see if the flushing subsides.
If I can provide any help…I would recommend you NEVER use the cream again. I had one week of hell while I went cold turkey from the cream, and I threw it out. After the week, my face went back to it’s normal complexion for the most part but not quite as much as I would have liked. I will never do that again. There are products at your local pharmacy or spa that can help if your problem isn’t severe. They recommended a product called R-relief serum? I have yet to try anything.
Use Onreltea to see if it really works , bad mistake , I didnt have a problem with flushing until now . After using the cream for just 4 hours my face broke out red when I was having lunch at work. Now when I visit my friends my face flush for no reason. Have stop using the cream and hope my face can at least get back to were it was .
My Dr. recommended ONRELTEA for my rosacea. It worked for the first 3-4 days but as others have stated I looked quite pale. After day 5, I started getting red blotches on my cheeks and my rosacea seemed worse than ever. I have stopped using the cream. What a waste of $140, thank goodness my insurance covered it.
I’m glad to have found this site. I will proceed with caution. But to be fair, my Dermatologist strongly recommended using only a minuscule bit to start and NOT to use it every day…. just for occasions when I really don’t want the redness. He gave me a couple of samples. But he did say that if I were to buy a tube, it should last for well over a year… that’s how little I am to use. Most times I should use a green camouflage makeup …again applied very sparingly.
I tried a teeny bit of the ONRELTEA yesterday and was surprised how effective it was…. but of course the effect only lasted about 8 hours.
This morning I am no better or no worse…. but I won’t try it again till tomorrow.
Good luck everyone!
My doctor gave me some sample tubes of Onreltea to try; however, she instructed me it is not for daily use. She told me to only use it occasionally when I have an important meeting at work or attending a dinner party for example. I apply a bit on Monday mornings and it reduces the redness on my chin and cheeks significantly [maybe around 75%]. I may only apply some one or two times during the rest of the week. It is not for daily use. Hope this helps.
Wow crazy! I used onreltea for 5 days saw a bit of a difference! The 6th day I hadn’t even put it on and my face was burning and puffy, went to the pharmacist. He said it looked like an allergic reaction not rosacia. Told me to try the cream on halve my face to see if it did anything. Nothing. Stopped using it for a week. Got better. Then tried it again same thing and have rosacia acne too! Swelling welt like. Done with that cream too!
My rosacea began when I was pregnant with my third child (31 years ago)…the dr. said hormone changes triggered it. I took antibiotics for many years…along with metro cream. The dr. prescribed ONRELTEA a few months ago…I used it along with the metro cream….and my rosacea worsened. Terrible flushing & hot areas….and sore. I have very low iron right now…so I don’t need to look any paler….not a fan of this new gel. And it is expensive $142 per tube….but our insurance does cover it. But I’m discontinuing applying it.
Hello everyone,
Please be very carefu. I used this for two weeks and it indeed did make my skin much less red. I have sever rosacia and I mean sever! Some was so happy then all that happiness went away.
Around the second week my skin got very agitated and large yellow scabs appeared. The itchyness was so bad I did not sleep for three days and could not leave the house. I can’t explain the itchiness I literally scratched till my face bleed, hard to imagine but true.
On the forth day I had to go to the hospital as my face had literally yellow dead scabs all over it and the itch was driving me crazy.
Please be careful this is just my story!
I have used it again two small drops in the last 6 months and one time the same thing happend but much less sever, the second time nothing.
I started using this a couple of months ago and at first was very happy with the results. After a couple of weeks I found my skin very red in the evenings and when I woke up It started to feel very hot and experienced frequent flushing which ended up causing me anxiety. I thought perhaps my roseaca was getting worse until I spoke to my doctor. She advised that I stop using the gel and since I have stopped my face feels so much happier. I am still a red tone but my flushing, anxiety, itchy eyes, and burning have improved. I would advise people not to use this product, if necessary mix a small amount with moisturizer only on occasion.
This is my first post about my skin, so many peoples entries have helped me. I hope this helps someone too.
Wow, I feel lucky that it worked for about a month before I started to react to it. The heat on my face and burning feeling with the redness started around the winter holidays and I initially thought it was a food allergy. I felt better as soon as I went off it but the damage to my skin took a couple of weeks to disappear.
Thank to all for your reviews I just got prescription for onrealtea. I am not going to buy it.
Very smart decision! This blog really needs to be sent to the big Pharma that is raking in all the money by selling this brutal product. And the FDA for approving it.
I was prescribed Onreltea and have only used it four times. I had only moderate redness and now I have terrible bright red flushing. I stopped using the product and have been flushing for 4 days. I really hope my skin settles down, this looks awful.
Linda, My daughter is having the same experience. Did your flushing settle down? If so how long did it take?
My daughter started on Onreltea 2 weeks ago. Her cheers flush when she is nervous or stressed at work. It looked like a miracle at first. All colour disappeared. She mixed the Onreltea with moisturizer to make it less strong. After a few days she noticed when it wore off her face would flush more then ever, with intense heat and tingling. For the others of you who have experienced this, how long before you went back to your normal? I’m hope you did.
I have been dealing with all similar symptoms I will prob not use this product again !
Please be very careful when using Onraltea.
I have a mild case of Rosacea and usually during the winter months can get a bit worse.
I was prescribed with Onraltea by my dermatologist. The first day I used it, I felt fine during the day, however, during the evening I started to experience awful redness and flushing. I have never had such a red face, it is awful. It feels almost like a bad sun burn. I regret that I didn’t read anything about it before I started using it. I should have stopped the very first day. Becasue I thought my skin needed time to adjust to the new medication, I used it for 3 days….What a mistake. It got worse each day.
I have not use it now for 5 days and I am still getting the redness, flushing and burning sensation in my face. This happens mostly in the evenings but during the day I have had a couple of flare ups. I regret so very much to have used it. It did not help me at all. What was a very mild case of Rosacea now feels it is not mild anymore. I truly hope this flushing, redness and burning sensation goes away for good. I feel very upset that my dermatologist nor the farmacist warned me of these possible effects and told me to stop it immediately if they happen.
To everyone who is reading this forum, please be very very careful with Onraltea.
I had a good nearly one year long run using Onreltea in very small amounts on a once daily basis as recommended by my dermatologist. I split my time between Europe and Canada and whilst in Europe, perhaps thanks to more clement weather and higher humidity levels, I barely had to use it at all and ditched the Onreltea. Once back in the Canadian Rockies with its prevailing dryness and roller coaster temperature swings, my rosacea came back with a vengeance and I started using Onreltea again. This is when my rosacea got worst. I would flush only in stressful situations or when in large gatherings of people or after consuming red wine and now I was flushing all of the time. The worst of it in the evenings and on a near continuous basis from six o’clock onward. My skin was extremely hot to the touch, inflamed and painful and I had to cool it with mists of water or ice. Even my eyes started stinging after applications. I’ve banned Onreltea from my skin care regime as every time I applied it, I would break out in welts and turn an angry shade of red. I’ve turned to natural remedies as these seem to be the only treatments that my now overly sensitive skin tolerates even if it doesn’t do away with all of the redness. I cool down with Avène spring water mist, hydrate with organic seabuckthorn oil and occasionally treat spots with Mossop’s Manuka honey. At least this way, I’m not slathering Big Pharma’s dangerous and inefficient petrochemicals on my body. Looks like Health Canada gave its stamp of approval too easily and too fast on this one.
Tim123live@gmail
I was prescribed this for mild rosacea. It is very expensive and I did not like this product. I have mild rosacea and my doctor suggested trying this gel. I was excited to be free of the redness. I would use the gel in the morning before work. I read it didn’t last for a full twelve hours so I figured that I would use during work hours. The first few days the gel seemed to work, I even looked a little pale. A few days later I became red after applying and assumed I used too much gel. I used less gel the next day but my face went red after use and stayed red for about thirty minutes. Later in the day my face went bright red, my skin felt hot and thick. It lasted about fifteen minutes. The next day the same thing happened, very embarrassing. I stopped the gel but the hot, red skin flashes continued. I wish I would have taken the negative reviews more seriously and never used this product. Hope that my skin goes back to the normal mild rosacea and not this angry red soon. I don’t have any allergies to medicine or foods so this reaction was shocking. I avoided triggers like the sun, hot showers. I took steps to make this product work positively for me but it was an extremely negative experience.
So close to being a miracle drug for me. My rosacea is the type where I’m in a permanent red flush due to dilated blood vessels. Mirvaso/Onreltea targets this issue directly like no other treatment I’ve used before. (I’ve used many) While applied, I’d say it reduced the redness in my face drastically. At least 85% of the redness is gone.
Here comes the bad part: It results in a terrible flush in the following days. My face becomes more red than usual. The redness is spotty and it looks truly awful. My skin also just looks ‘exhausted’, if that makes sense. The blood vessels in my face have just gone through several hours of forcibly being constricted so that makes sense.
For this reason I can not recommend the drug. Unless you plan to only use it for special occasions and are ok with going through the rebound effect for the next few days.
Such a shame.
I started using Onreltea a few weeks ago. I had used Metrogel at first but it made my face break out in terrible itchy red blotches. I started out with very mild rosacea and those products have made it so much worse. I’m using a natural cleanser/ day cream with green tea which seems to calm down my redness. It was so good to know that they are people out there just like me with this condition. For this reason, I don’t recommend using the drug. U think with all the drugs out there, that Canada would have a decent drug for rosecea suffers.