Carrie, 42, is a primary achool teacher, from Killearn near Glasgow, Scotland.
Carrie says:
Having rosacea since my late teens has not been easy.
I was often mistaken for being shy or embarrassed as I would look like I was blushing all the time but in fact I am neither. I am actually a very outgoing person.
I’ve lost count of the number of time people have either commented that I’ve either caught too much sun or I have had one too many drinks. I live in Scotland so the chances of catching too much sun are not that high. And yes drinking alcohol does make my face turn red, but people make these comments while I am work or at10am? I actually do not drink very much at all as it effects my skin and obviously never during work hours, but my face does make me look sometimes like I have been on the booze since the moment I wake up.
I was aware as a young woman that my skin was not ‘normal’ but I just put it down to high spirits and wind burn as I am a very outdoorsy person and so I thought it was just extreme healthy outdoor ruddiness.
Then I did a ski season in my mid 20’s and one day I got really badly sun burned and my skin went from bad to worse after that. It was no longer just red but it was bumpy too and the redness had spread to my nose and forehead whereas before it was just my cheeks and chin. And the skin looked mottled and broken. What was most concerning was that my skin started to look red most of the time, it wasn’t just after I had been outside anymore.
By my early 30’s I started hating seeing pictures of myself in photos as my face was so obviously beetroot red compared to everyone else’s. I had a very insensitive boyfriend at the time who kept telling me I should wear more make up. People were starting to comment on the state of my skin more and more frequently. I’d like to say it didn’t affect me but in truth I think it probably did more than I’d like to admit.
I had also started to develop an intolerance to any form of make up or sun creams. It started off with a few products that stung my skin and then quickly went to almost everything stinging and making my face go lobster red and puffy.
So not only did I have a very red bumpy face, I wasn’t really able to camouflage it with the multitude of products promising to cover up my redness as they all made my skin worse and make-up would just slide off my burning skin within a few hours, leaving me looking piebald and blotchy.
The redness had also spread to behind my ears and partly down my neck. I started to develop reactions to shampoo so I had to start washing my hair separately. Over the years I’ve invented all sorts of weird and wonderful face protecting devices and techniques in order to avoid not getting even a drop of shampoo on my face otherwise it means three or four hours of redness and burning.I even bought one of those plastic head visors which protect baby’s faces when washing their hair.
I am not one for ever going to the doctor for anything unless its life threatening but my skin was so bad I eventually made an appointment and was diagnosed immediately with rosacea and was prescribed an antibiotic cream. I tried the cream once or twice but it stung like crazy and I felt it was doing more harm than good even if it did bring down the redness.
I started researching my condition and most blogs on it advised me to avoid antibiotic creams as much as possible as they have limited effect, which wears off with time meaning you have to use more and more for the same effects and then eth flare up get worse. Also these creams can cause long term damage to the skin and make your skin even more intolerant to sun.
So I began looking for alternatives. I tried a number of whacky suggestions, such as plastering my entire face with raw avocado, another person suggested that jelly worked, so I tried that too. Obviously these tips did not have any effect whatsoever other than make a huge mess of my bathroom and me feel like a fool. All anti-redness products that people suggested mostly stung my skin and or didn’t work or often both.
I found that drinking beer seemed to really trigger the flare ups so I tried to cut down on that. I also became vegetarian as lots of people seemed to suggest that meat can make the redness worse. Less beer definitely helped, and being vegetarian did seem to make my skin feel a bit smoother and generally made me feel healthier.
A major problem for me is the sun. I love outdoor sports but just half an hour in the sun can trigger flare ups, yet my skin reacts to pretty much all sun creams. I’m currently on a work exchange in Southern Spain so the sun issue is a nightmare. The heat is harsh and the kids at school keep asking me why my face is the same colour as their colouring pens!
With few options left to me I eventually ended up going out in the sun with a cap on and then some kind of scarf wrapped around my face and neck. I look like some strange creature from the desert wrapped up in scarves and hats.
My worst part of every week is when I arrive at my gym classes. I will always have some smart aleck asking me if I have already had a class beforehand or if I have jogged to the class as my face is already bright red before I even start. Then they see what I look like by the end of the work out and they realise that the redness at the start was just my normal skin colour, as by the end I am neon. It has almost put me off going several times but I try to keep my confidence up and tell myself that the state of my skin is none of anyone else’s business.
It does annoy me when people that hardly know me feel at liberty to comment on my skin, I think it’s really rude and insensitive. They would never dream of saying something to someone if they had a scar or a disability but they feel free to comment on my skin, as though it’s my fault or my choice or something. I am fully aware of my skin almost 100% of the time, I really don’t need people to point it out to me. I try not to let it, but these comments do obviously undermine my confidence.
I was losing hope that I’d ever find a solution to my red skin, which seemed to be getting worse and worse every year when a friend said she knew someone who had tried a treatment skincare range for rosacea called Kalme that contained an extract of capers.
After my various food treatments I simply laughed. But the following week my friend had ordered me some Kalme products, so too embarrassed to give her the products back or not use them, I obediently took them home and tried them.
I only tried the Kalme caper cream on a small patch of skin at first as I am terrified of all new skin products in case they burn. This didn’t, which was the first good sign. It was only the next day when I woke up and I saw the patch that I had treated was significantly less red and smoother than the rest of my face that I got excited. I immediately smothered my whole face in the product even though the day cream had an SPF40 in it. There was also a night cream and a magical concealer that adapts to my skin tone which can change dramatically day to day. I still don;t know how this product does this, but all I know is that when I put it on my skin looks instantly about 80% better, it doesn't sting and it stays on all day.
I stuck to the recommended skincare routine and only used the Kalme products and nothing else and didn't wash my face with water, just cleansing it with the Kalme cream cleanser and within two weeks my redness and bumpiness had dramatically improved. I was honestly gobsmacked.
Now after six months using Kalme products my skin still flushes after exercise or if I drink any alcohol and I have a mild pinky tinge to my complexion but it looks more like a healthy glow now than a furious rash. I do still wear a wide brimmed hat out in the sun but I am no longer bright red all the time or needing to be wrapped in a scarf and my flare ups are far less furious and much less often.
Being able to also cover up the redness with the magic concealer helps a lot for when I go out in the evenings. I know there is no rosacea cure and I will always have to manage my skin but these products have become my secret weapon to keep my furious skin under control.
I can even bare to look at myself in photos now as I am very pleased to see that I don’t look like a strawberry lollipop anymore. A work colleague told me I was looking really fresh last week, which put a wee smile on my face. And thankfully I haven’t heard “Oh you’ve caught the sun!” in some time. It’s boosted my confidence no end as my skin feels under my control now rather than feeling like it’s got a mind of its own.”
