Rosacea Flare-up After Procedure

I'm a 44yo man and had a single Lumecca session mid-April 2021 in London, UK. It stings quite a bit – and is pretty much on the edge of acceptable for me – but totally bearable (no pain, no gain, amirite?) and the practitioner was great. I was looking for improvements with a) rosacea symptoms – ie redness and a few thread veins, b) sun damage (I'm white British with pale skin, I burn fairly easily), and c) general skin tone and quality. I've responded really well to laser in the past and have had a more mild version of IPL before. I chose it because it's old school, it's effective, safe and seems to give good results. Within a day or so after the session I had an acne-like breakout – lots of small red bumps across my upper and lower cheeks – where I've never had pimples before. It looked pretty bad, was sore and hot, and wouldn't calm down. I had a few whiteheads also. After 2-3 weeks of this, I contacted the clinic – they prescribed me Azalic acid (Skinoren) cream... But this did not seem effective. I tried a few other things like a mild acne skin-wash. Eventually I saw a doctor who told me to drop almost all products, use a mild rosacea face wash – and Soolantra (Ivermectic cream) – plus a simple moisturiser and sun block – in the hopes we could "build back my skin barrier". It's been 3 weeks and things are slightly improved... I really wish Lumecca had worked – my skin looked a bit better beforehand, unfortunately. Disclaimer: my skin wasn't great going into the session – and the dark sun damage spots really improved – in fact my forehead looks really good and smooth – but my cheeks are still problematic (it's now 4 months later). Overall, I think I've had a rare experience with Lumecca – it may have caused my skin to flare up and I'm now in the long process to fix it. I would say, make sure you have no underlying mild acne or rosacea symptoms when you have the treatment.