Rosacea: Why Me? Why Anybody? - Sydney, Australia

Hi all,

I hope everyone has been well.

It has been some time since I last posted; a few years, I think. This doesn't mean that the last few years have been without flare-ups. There has been, but from what I can remember, it hasn't been too bad.

I refer to a couple of previous posts I made over the last few years. One of them is about the postulated direct causal relationship between stress and flare-ups/flushing, and the other is about that GP I saw that really preached minimalism when it comes to skincare.

So on the first point, I am not pretty much convinced that my flare-ups (at least nowadays) are not random, but directly caused by stress/anxiety. I have noticed over the last few years that when I am stressed, anxious, or embarrassed, I tend to flush/blush, and this may then lead to a full-on flare-up that doesn't subside for hours or unless I do something to bring the temperature of my face back down and/or restrict/constrict the blood vessels in my face. Well, I guess alcohol would also lead to the same thing.

As for the second point, for better or worse, either intentionally or unintentionally, I listened to that GP's advice and practiced extreme minimalism when it comes to skincare or washing my face. One of my earliest posts was about all the different products I was using on my face, daily or every two days. For the last few years, I've pretty much done away with all of them, and just let my body do it's natural thing. For the last few years and currently, I have been only washing my face with Biore facial cleanser once every two days, and on alternate days, just washing my face with water.

Regardless of the reason, be it the lack of products I've been using, or my overall stress levels decreasing whilst my stress-regulation skills increase, the frequency and seriousness of my flare-ups have dramatically decreased.

I hope this helps anyone who reads.

Cheers, stray strong.

Hey all,

Thought I'd update you with some thoughts about my skin flushing that had floated around in my mind recently.

Perhaps the harsh chemicals I had used early on in my teenage years (to help combat acne breakouts, etc.) permanently damaged my skin (specifically, made it thinner) and so my blushing/flushing (which, in some circumstances, is a normal reaction [e.g., when I get embarrassed]) is more noticeable than other people's (who have 'thicker skin').

Maybe?

Hi all,

I've been meaning to make this update for about a week now, and only just got around to doing it.

I've got a little story to tell. I little one; I promise it's not too long.

So some of you following my posts may remember that I have been using a brand of facewash called Biore. It's Singaporean (I think), and I've been using it more or less for the last 7 years, on and off, but mainly on. I've certainly been using it since my whole episode of bad flare ups in early-mid 2014.

I've attached a photo of the products - on the left is the facewash, and on the right is the exfoliator.

I've been using either one or the other once or twice a day for almost 2 years straight (and before 2014, maybe from 2009-2012, the same - once or twice a day, every day).

Anyway, so now I've set that up (and what I want you all to take away from that is that I use these products very frequently [once or twice a day]).

Yeah anyway...

I went to Japan for two weeks (late January to early February) and went from a hot Australian Summer to a cold Japan Winter. I brought the two facewash products with me, and continued using them as I would normally.

In the second week of my trip, my girlfriend (well, sort of "girlfriend"; it's complicated) came and joined me and we lived together. I told her she could use some of my facewash, because it gives a really good clean and makes your skin feel really fresh.

Anyway, one night she used it, and she came out, and her face was all red. It was red, not like a bad flare up, but just flushed (don't worry, it really wasn't all that bad at all and she doesn't have rosacea as well or anything). Anyway, the redness that she had appeared to be a reaction to the facewash.

This was noteworthy to me. Like, seriously, I full sat up and was like "whoah... something might be going on here". This facewash product, whether it be the actual brand or any such facewash at all, may be doing some damage.

Anyway, from that moment on, I changed my routine completely.

I now limit the use of (these) facewash products to once every few days, instead of once a day.

I haven't noticed a big change in terms of my propensity to flush, but we'll see what happens as time goes on.

What did happen in the first few days though was that my face started becoming more oily, but I stuck with my new routine and after a few days, my skin wasn't that oily anymore, and became like normal. I guess it's just one of those things my body does to adjust to different things.

It made me think of a doctor I spoke to back in 2014 (and I was talking to him about my rosacea) and he told me to stop using the products completely (maybe I should've listened to him back then), but at the time, I didn't. He told me that the body just cleans itself, and that he doesn't use any shampoo at all to wash his hair (only water) and that he only uses soap once a week (because of the smell) but if he were to have it his way, he wouldn't use soap at all. At the time, I thought he was a bit weird. But I see his point now. If only about limiting or completely stopping the use of facewash products. I will keep using soap once a day and shampoo as well, obviously.

Anyway, that's it for now, I'll keep you all updated.

:)