China, 30, is a primary school teacher from Truro in Cornwall.
China says;
"I first started noticing redness and small pustules around six years ago. It was only mild so I didn’t discover it was rosacea until it started to become more severe and noticeable.
Nobody in my family has rosacea. One of my five sisters does have sensitive skin but nothing like I had.
Ibelieve that my rosacea triggers were a combination of genetically sensitive skin combined with heavy use of a harsh skincare routine through my teens and 20’s. I used to use highly scented products and absolutely loved a face scrub. I would scrub my face with harsh exfoliator, sometimes twice a day always focusing on my nose and cheek areas. I believe I severely damaged my skin barrier during this time and that definitely had an impact on triggering my rosacea.
I think it took me so long to realise it was rosacea because I had never heard of it before, I had never seen it before and I was quite young to get it. So I had no point of reference or any knowledge of symptoms and triggers to point me in the direction of rosacea. It’s so unknown about in general skincare. Even now I still find myself having to explain what it is to people.
When my flare ups became more severe they made me feel really self-conscious. I felt helpless because I didn’t know what I could do to help myself, I was left with such sore skin to start with from using the completely wrong ingredients, my face used to feel like it was on fire. I have always been an avid makeup wearer but my rosacea flare ups used to make me not want to go out even with lots of make up on as it would hide the redness but the rough bumpy texture from the pustules would really upset me.
I work with children who often have no filter! They have asked me about bumps on my skin and will nearly always point out if I have a flushing flare up. I have also been asked if I’m sunburnt a few a times.
At a few points I got quite depressed about my skin. When it was at it’s worst and I was really struggling to control it, I just felt like there was no way to get rid of it and I really withdrew myself from my family and friends. I can see how people can become very depressed with an on-going skin condition, if you let it then it can start to effect many areas of you life. All it can take is a few means words or people starring at your skin and it enough to make you want to shut yourself away. Luckily, I have been surrounding by kind friends and family, but even so I have still struggled to control my negative feelings about my skin. I can’t imagine what it must be like for people who get badly treated or don’t get the right support about their skin.
The worst flare up I have had was one Christmas after I'd used a new beauty cream I'd been given as a present, which prompted my first and only visit to my GP. I was prescribed a topical acne medication gel because they thought I had acne due to my age.
Initially the gel cleared up my skin. At the time my whole cheeks were covered in small sore pustules. As it was Christmas I remember not wanting to join in with anything and was set to bail on New Year’s Eve plans. I was so pleased that the gel cleared up my pustules enough for me to venture out to a New Year's party.
However, within a few months the gel stopped working, the redness and pustules returned worse than before and on top of all that the gel had severely dried out my skin
Afer loosing confidence in what the doctor had given me, I went to my sister for skincare advice as she is really into more natural forms of skincare. On her advice I eliminated fragrance from my routine and started using more gentle skincare ingredients, which started to benefit my skin but I was still getting regular flare ups.
Through my sister’s influence I started to do a lot of research on more natural products to specifically treat rosacea as normal skin care products, even the more natural ones, were still not tackling my skin as much as I needed and that is when I came across Kalme products that contained a special caper extract for reducing redness and sensitivity for people with rosacea.
I read about them on social media and a lot of people with rosacea were posting really positive reports of their effects so I ordered some.
The first thing noticed when I used the Kalme products was that they didn't sting my skin, which was a huge positive as my this stage most new products stung my skin. The first noticable improvement was a reduction in the underlying redness of my skin after about 3-4 days. This was a good sign so I contuned and after about two weeks that I really saw a huge difference in my skin.
The little pustules and bumpiness started to dissapear and even after getting out of the shower when my face would almost always flush, my complexion stayed calm and muc smoother. And week my week the undelrying redness got paler and paler.
Currently I am the most confident I have been in myself and my skin in several years because I know I have some control over it now I have finally found a skincare regime that works. I have lost that feeling of helplessness. It’s very liberating."
