From:  Debbie Gallegos
Date:  Mon Nov 16, 1998  1:50 am
Subject:  [rosacea] Rosacea Ltd disks personal history

Dear Support Group

I have had several people write me and ask me to post my experience with the rosacea ltd disks, so I will and it’ll be there at our web site for future reference if anyone else ever wants to hear my history. Many of you have already received this because you wrote to me about my Sept.  posting to the Rosacea Ltd. compliment page – can see all posts at -www.rosacea-ltd.com , and I have since written back to you when I received an e-mail about subscribing to this group, and I know some of you have joined.

So for those of you who already in the past received this letter, ignore the rest cause you’ve already gotten it before! I hope it is a help to anyone else who is struggling and not found anything that works for them, maybe this might, or at least inspire you to keep looking and not settle for a less than effective treatment you might have been given up to now. I know no one thing will work for everyone, and I am glad we now have this group to share our triumphs and disasters.

Maybe we can at some point, when we grow in numbers, do a campaign of letters to companies or whoever we need to “Get To”, to step up research to try to find a cure, or at the least, much more effective treatments that don’t cost an arm and a leg!

Firstly, I copied my original compliment that I posted in Sept to the Rosacea Ltd. web site, then the follow up letter I wrote to the many people who inquired as to weather I was the ‘real thing’ and that what I was saying about the disks really did occur with me, plus a horde of other questions. I hope I don’t bore anyone.

I was happy to find a much more effective treatment for me than I had had the previous 14 years since I had been diagnosed at 31 years old, and just wanted to share my experience so anyone else who might have had their ‘back to the wall’ as I did might have something else to try. Several of you who wrote me in Sept and Oct have written back to say you ordered the product and are already having positive initial results, so for some it works well, it seems. Yes, it has a tendency to be drying, but so did the last couple of things the doctors prescribed for me even tho they said they shouldn’t dry my skin. They did, but also didn’t do much for the rosacea.  The disks did a lot of good for my face, and still do. The red capillaries on my nose have continued to shrink more and more, and if I do flare up (my worsts are sun (and sweating due to heat-it makes my face itch so bad I want to scratch it off at those times, and the bumpy skin flares up on my forehead esp., (i know those bumpy suckers are just there hiding under the surface!!!); wind (a real biggie!-and I live in a real wind tunnel of an area) stress, esp with lack of sleep, and I tend to be a night owl and a bit of an insomniac, but still have to get up early to get my son to school and start the day; real spicy foods, esp Indian and Thai (i love Thai esp. too!), which I don’t have too often because of that; salty foods (like chips), and illness.

I just got over a bad cold-took 3 weeks-and I flare up when my immune system goes whacky and/or if I have the slightest fever. Luckily the rosacea disks keep it in pretty good check at those times, and then clear it up again when my immune system gets back on course. BUT you MUST USE a good moisturizer to counteract the dryness, which seems to subside somewhat as you get used to the treatment, and you don’t have to rub it on as much ( a thinner coat) to keep it in check once you clear up.

I really look forward to hearing, as time goes on all, the successes you all have with whatever you all are trying – I am always open to new stuff that might work, or assist. Some mention has been made regarding Bare Minerals Products-I couldn’t find them on a search of the interent-if you call the 800# do they send info-samples-or? Are they on available by phone, or do health food stores carry?

Best to you all…I hope my story helps someone or inspires debate, or others to tell their stories. Lets keep sharing! debbie…

Compliment from:

Name: Debbie Gallegos
Date Submitted: September 14, 1998

I must say I was skeptic 3 months ago when I decided to order my Rosacea Ltd product. But after 14 years of suffering with this condition, and many prescriptions later, I was extremely depressed with the non-effectiveness of the products my doctors had me try over the years. I had tried Metro-gel to no success, finally ending up on a long term regime of oral antibiotics (Tetracycline) and cleocin-T, which even combined together gave me very little relief. My basic symptom was bumpy feeling skin, esp. on my forehead and sides of my face, and reddish skin (esp. cheeks) and dilated vessels on my nose and out from the sides of my nose. And it itched alot, and NOT from dry skin.

I always use a very good moisturizer (and I would share that find with anyone who wants to know, it seems to work so well in conjunction with the Rosacea ltd product), so even though I had been told that itchy skin in those areas was not a typical symptom, I never had had itchy skin until the rosacea started, and it drove me crazy! And long term use of an antibiotic, esp when it didn’t help much, was beginning to concern me.

Well, they all went in the trash within 2 weeks of starting the Rosacea Ltd product. I was that convinced after only 2 weeks that the new product was far superior for treating my skin condition than anything I had ever tried before over the 14 years. And the dilated veins are almost all but gone, the itchy is gone, and my skin no longer feels bumpy. And it worked being tested initially during the greatest challenge I face yearly, summer sun, heat and dry wind that is so prevalent in my area of California.

Normally I wouldn’t bother to take the time to write a company back about their product if I liked it. I would just keep using it, and that would be my testiment to it. But I know how lousey this condition can make you feel, both physically and emotionally, and if I can encourage anyone else suffering out there to give this a try, then my few minutes spent writing this was well worth it. What have you got to lose, except maybe the suffering? Anyone feel free to write me personally if you need more reasssurance. Thanks Rosacea Ltd!.

Sincerely,

Debbie Gallegos (45 year old “Soccer Mom”.)

Dear Fellow Rosacea Sufferers, 10/21/98

Sorry I haven’t gotten back to everyone who has e-mailed me with questions regarding my experience with rosacea, Rosacea ltd , and the moisturizers I mentioned I have found helpful. I didn’t anticipate the flood of responses I got, and as my husband is out of town every other week on business, so I am a single mom a lot of the month, and we are also doing an addition to our house at the moment, I have been a little overwhelmed to find any “extra” time to sit down and write back to people. I had hoped to answer everyone’s e-mails personally, but it looks like that would take forever! So I am doing what I should have done in the first place, put down most all of the pertinent info that has been asked of me, and hope that that covers most of the questions that you all have been asking. Then I am sure if I leave out any particulars that anyone wanted to ask, or has already asked, I can manage those individual questions. Sorry that this isn’t as personal as I would wish, I just feel a need to answer as many of you as I can at once, since so many of your questions are the same, and I now realize my response time will be very long if I try to keep writing the same info over and over again.

I am a 45 year old mom with a 7 year old adopted son. My first son was born in 1984 with multiple birth defects, and the 4 years he was with us was a very hard and difficult time for us. Shortly after his birth I noticed that I was getting little bumps all over my forehead and down the bridge of my nose, my skin was getting red, and eventually it got itchy, esp. after I washed my face. As time went on (I didn’t go to a dermatologist for several months, as I wrote this all off to extreme stress in my life, and hormones from my pregnancy, which it all probably was, but that had initiated the “rosacea”, which is a permanent condition). When I finally did seek out a dermatologist, it took awhile to get a diagnosis, and when I did get one, the initial antibiotic didn’t help. But as there were far more serious concerns in my life at the time than my skin, I kind of just tried to ignore it, besides there were dozens of doctors that I had to see all the time who were trying to keep my son alive, I wasn’t too thrilled about going to any for myself.

After my son died and I began, with time, to come out of my fog I had been in for many years, I noticed that not only did the medication I was on not help my skin condition, it was now spreading down my nose and down the sides of my face and even a bit behind my ears, the bumps, the redness ‘flushed’ look, the itchiness, sometimes so extreme that I wanted to scratch my skin off. I probably wasn’t paying too much attention to the face soaps, cleansers, creams

I was using at the time, which I am sure did not do my condition any good. I would periodically try a new product the dermatologist would recommend, and they would either be too drying, or irritating, so I did alot of switching.  Finally, after seeing several dermatologist over the years, and trying several antibiotics, and metrogel which was supposedly formulated for rosacea and did absolutely nothing for me, I was put on a combination of oral Tetracycline and antibiotic lotion Cleocin-T, which did the most good for my condition than any previous combinations of medications. I was on this for several years. I still had regular flare ups, and the bumps were not all gone, but they were less noticeable, but I still had a really itchy, burning feel to my skin alot.

The summer of 1997, after having moved from the San Fernando Valley area of LA the previous year back to the San Francisco Bay Area where I am originally from, I found that the wind in the area I now live in was drying out my skin even more, which made my flare ups all the more uncomfortable, and the wrinkles coming on all the more prominent. In desperation to try to find something to lessen the dryness, the itchiness of my skin, I ordered a product from the Home Shopping Network that looked promising. They have a 30 day return policy on any product you are dissatisfied with for any reason, so I figured I had nothing to loose. Besides, I had been hearing alot in the media about the benefits of vit C in our skin care products, so I decided to give them a try. I initially just ordered the moisturizing/firmimg creame and serum, and tried them for a year before recommending them to anyone else. I have continued to be very pleased with them. I will copy down the product info that came with the cream:

FREE-RADICALS

The environment is filled with them, agents that can attack surface skin cells, causing damage you may not see for years; slack contours, coarse texture, premature wrinkling and an over-all look of lost vitality. But there’s something else in nature that can fight free radicals…  ANTI-OXIDANT VITAMINS Like Vitamin C, anti-oxidant vitamins are wonderfully adept at capturing and neutralizing free radicals and are able to help your skin fight environmental assaults and stay younger looking far longer than you may have believed.  Unfortunately, there was always one drawback to the Vitamin C found in most skincare formulations: breaking down and losing effectiveness in the presence of high humidity…even in the presence of the water contained in moisture creams and lotions.  MARILYN MIGLIN’S Vitamin C is different.  It is a highly stabilized, thus able to maintain its effectiveness for extended periods of time. And, it is highly concentrated so that you’re giving your skin a potent dose of free-radical fighter.  Use it everyday.  In the morning, Vitamin C cream Long -lasting anti-oxidant protection. Plus firming action and rehydration…  In the evening, Vitamin C Serum Concentrated care that works overnight…

I have used these products for a year and a half, and still love them They are highly concentrated, so they last a long time. I just dab them on with wet fingertips, and it spreads really well. They feel and smell really yummy, like orange flavoured yogurt, and a little goes a long way. The cost is like any good moisturizer, plus it lasts a long time since a little goes a long way. Marilyn Miglin has an internet site, but only her fragrance products are sold there, so the Home Shopping Network may have exclusive rights to her skin care products. This summer I ordered a basket kit that had several other of the vitamin C products to try, the skin cleanser, eye cream, toner…and I have liked them all. They have a soothing, healing feel to them for my skin. I do occasionally use another cream, Aveeno Moisturizing Cream (or lotion), and as some of you may know, Aveeno makes the products that mom’s use on kids skin if they get hives, rashes, chickenpox, to soothe the itch. These over the counter creams don’t irritate my skin and do impart some more moisture and help with the itchiness. The moisturizer for sun block had been the hardest for me to settle on, since the ones the dermatologists always recommended were so thick, and sometimes irritating. I could barely wash them off my hands with hard soap and water, I shuddered to think what they were doing to my skin. I’ve finally settled on PURPOSE (Johnson and Johnson), dual treatment moisturizer with SPF 15, also over the counter. It doesn’t give me enough moisture, so I always use it with the Vitamin C cream too.

I want to comment on my use of the Rosacea Ltd product before, at the end, I supply the order info for the Vit.C cream. I am not affiliated with either Rosacea Ltd. or Marilyn Miglin, or the Home Shopping Network for that matter. I’m just a Mom who has had alot of years of stress, tragedy, and now great joy in our adopted son, and who thru all those years has suffered with a skin condition that at times has been painful, irritating, embarrassing, depressing and always very FRUSTRATING. I have found some products that have finally brought a sense of more normalcy back to my life. I don’t know if they will work for you. I have spent a fortune on antibiotics, creams, soaps, cleansers, sunblocks, dr’s appointments…some things worked for awhile, some things didn’t ever work.

I just know that I was at my wits end when I ordered the Rosacea Ltd product 6 months ago. I was about to seek out a new dermatologist, and see if there was yet anything new on the horizon for the rosacea, because I was very nervous about long term antibiotic use ( I had already discontinued the Tetracycline because I was concerned that I had been taking it too long, and it didn’t seem to help much anymore). and the cleocin cream wasn’t helping much either. It was like I was becoming immune to them. I had visited the Rosacea Ltd site months before, but dismissed it out of fear of internet shopping (I have since conquered that fear-there are some great buys on the internet!), but this last spring I decided, at my wits end, that I didn’t have too much to loose to try it. Assuming it was a legitimate company, and they didn’t run with my money, they had a guarantee that was long enough for me to give it a good try and still get my money back if it didn’t work for me.  So I ordered it and have never been sorry. I hope that I don’t get immune to it down the road, because these disks have worked SO MUCH BETTER than anything else I have tried over the years. They are strange, sort of like rubbing a pumice stone over your skin, and they do leave a powdery film on your face( I briskly rub off the excess after it dries if I need to apply moisturizer and/or go out.) It sort of feels like it does dry my skin somewhat, but I apply my vitamin C cream or Aveeno lotion a little while later and the dry feeling goes away. I have been using just the brown disk till recently when I returned a survey they sent me as a follow-up to treatment, and now I am using the yellow disk too. They both sort of had a burning feeling to my skin at first, but the brown one stopped feeling that way after a short while (2-3 weeks) so I presume the yellow one will stop having that feeling soon too ( I just started it last week), and the burning feeling only lasted for a few minutes. I did notice for a short while, 2-3 months, that I occasionally got a painful pimple come to the surface whereas I had previously hardly ever had “pimples” before using the disks. They too have stopped appearing. Using the disks, my bumps have gone away, and my skin no longer feels like a page of braille for the blind, but is smooth now. The roadmap of red surface spider veins on the sides of my nose and cheeks are almost all but disappeared, and the flushness of my face in general is greatly reduced. I recently had my eye exam, and I mentioned to the eye doctor that I was concerned about ocular rosacea, since I had read it can spread to the eyes. He was surprised to hear I was a rosacea sufferer, he said I didn’t present the classic appearance. That made me feel good. A few months before, there wouldn’t have been any question in his mind!

I would say that within two weeks time of starting the disks, I had seen a great reduction in the bumps, and within a month the itchiness was a lot better, and the bumps gone. At around three months I saw that my red veins weren’t as long and thick on my nose, and have since continued to improve a lot. I kid you not, if I get lazy and don’t use the disks at night, or in the morning, and go a few days without use, I can feel a beginning of a resurgence of the symptoms. This isn’t a cure, I haven’t heard they’ve come up with one, although we can always hope! But it has been the best controller for me. That’s what I wanted to share. Everyone is different, some symptoms are more prevalent on some than others. But for the bumpy skin, itch, red blotches, red spidery veins, these were my biggest concern; and the disks have helped me a lot to this point. The rosacea people have always answered my questions when I e-mailed ( I’ve never called ) them promptly. My feeling was, I was desperate to find something better than what I had been given by my doctors over the years. So I tried this product, and for me it has helped a great deal, and seems to continue to improve my skin as long as I use it religiously.

I hope some of you who are trying it now, or will try it, that it can help you this much too. I know how depressing this can be. I had flawless skin my whole life, even as a teenager, so many, many moons ago! I had that rosy complexion that everyone always commented on (little did I know that us “rosyes” are often the ones destined to this disorder). Having developed this severe of a skin condition, in what seemed like overnight, in my early 30’s, at a time that I was so stressed out with other concerns, was a devastating blow. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t cancer, I will live. But any of you who have struggled with it as long as I have, know that it is right there eating you away, besides looking so crappie, it can be really painful with the burning and itch, if you have that part of the problem. I wish you all the best of luck with your treatments, whatever they may be. If you are trying now, or going to try, the disks, give them awhile to see if they will work for you.  You didn’t get this condition over night, it won’t improve overnight, although I must say I was amazed at how quickly I did notice change on the disks. If you EVER have any concerns or questions, e-mail the company or call. Get clarification before you get discouraged and stop. Everyone is different, and it may not happen for you in the same time frame, or at all, although I hope that you can find some comfort in this product like I did.  People have asked me why we don’t hear about this product on the Rosacea Newsletter/Website/or from our doctors. I’m no expert, but my best quess is economics, research dollars…? Pharmaceutical companies have big bucks-they like to sell the products they invent/research? And they like to sell to pharmacies/hospitals/doctors, and they usually contain more expensive ingredients than are being used in the disks, even if they don’t work well, or at all, on the condition. I would like to know if anyone who receives my e-mail ever used Metrogel (where much research dollars I’m sure went to produce the drug for rosacea) which did absolutely nothing for my skin condition. Did anyone else get relief on it? I suppose not or you wouldn’t have been inquiring about my experience. By the way, the National Rosacea Society is funded by a pharmaceutical company I believe (if anyone knows otherwise I stand corrected).

I have tried to cover most all the questions everyone is e-mailing me.  If I left one of yours out, I would be happy to answer it. I’d like to know if you get my response, as I am writing this in Word and still have yet to try and cut and paste it onto my Netscape Navigator to try and mail (I’m only mildly computer literate!). I know this is more info than many of you asked for, nor did you probably care much about my personal history. I just knew I had to try to get it all on one answer or I’d fall farther and farther behind getting back to you. Please excuse the length!  Now, product order info for the Marilyn Miglin Vit C skin care products in case anyone is interested in trying them;

The Home Shopping Network 1-800-284-3100

Perfect C Cleanser #732080
Perfect C Cleansing Bars(3) w/orange peel extract
#705731
Perfect C Alcohol Free Toner w/Vit C #733476
Perfect C Firming cream (the moisturizer I use) #627528
Perfect C Serum #627680
Perfect C Firming Eye Cream # 650883
Perfect C Body Cream # 659802

I don’t have the prices on this sheet I am copying from, plus they do run specials, so I might not have the current prices. You’d need to talk to an operator. I also bought a few months ago, at a great discount, a kit of some of the products for a great price. It was # 701549, it had the cleanser, toner, firming cream, firming eye cream and serum in a cute white basket with an orange fruit emblem on the front that looks good on the counter top and keeps everything handy, but I don’t know if that was a one time special or not.

Hope to hear from anyone who has further questions that I would try to answer, or if you try something and like it, or it helps. Again, this works well for me, and that is all I can guarantee, of course. Best of luck!  debbie. AGAIN…if your e-mail address is on this, please confirm you got this so I won’t try to send it to you again.

Thanks!
x

[Rosacea-LTD are only available from their web site www.rosacea-ltd.com]

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