I am always reluctant to go, I kinda feel like I am being a bit vain, and shouldn't be taking their time up when there are people who are actually ill. However, after going to a friend's wedding last September, and seeing everyone looking so nice, and me having a mountain range on my cheek, I left the wedding feeling pretty low. After a few days of tears and being told to see someone, I made an appointment to see my GP.
My fears were for nothing though, as he was unbelievably understanding. Somehow he was even able to remember what I looked like before and could see himself how bad things had gotten. I have only ever been given topical treatments before, but this time he went for a 3 pronged approach of topical treatment (Adapalene), oral antibiotics(Lymecycline) and the contraceptive pill (Dianette). The Dianette I only took for one month and stopped, I have tried a different type of the pill before and it made me depressed, and this one did not agree with me either. After an entire month of feeling nauseous, like I had a massive lump in my throat, and then getting extrememly emotional (I burst into tears at work after being asked to perform a simple task, took me over an hour to calm down), I decided that was enough. Didn't fancy feeling ill over Christmas really.
The antibiotics and Adapalene have worked wonders though! I am lumpy no longer!
So I went back to see my GP late last year. He the referred me on to a Dermatologist. Although the lumps have gone, I have been left with a lot of red marks on my face. I know Acne scarring can take a long time to fade, but so far these marks don't seem to be fading at all.
I saw the Dermatologist at the beginning of last week. After a quick examination and discussion, he believes I may have Acne Rosacea rather than Acne Vulgaris. Thankfully these are mainly treated in the same way! I had heard of Rosacea, and people had suggested that this might what I had, but I had not really considered it myself, I am not really one for self diagnosis. Having looked up Rosacea since, it does feel likely that this is correct.
A little bit about Rosacea, thanks to the NHS:
"Rosacea is a common but poorly understood long-term (chronic) skin condition that mainly affects the face. Symptoms begin with episodes of flushing (when the skin turns red).
As rosacea progresses, other symptoms can develop such as:
- burning and stinging sensations
- permanent redness
- spots (papules and pustules)
- small blood vessels in the skin becoming visible
How Rosacea starts doesn't seem to be know (I may be wrong, I'm new to this), but there are triggers that can make it worse, or cause you to relapse when you have it under control. Including:
- exposure to sunlight
- stress
- exercise
- cold weather (wind)
- heat
- the menopause
- certain medications, such as vasodilator drugs
- hot drinks
- alcohol and caffeine
- eating certain foods, such as spicy foods
So clues to my Acne problem being Rosacea: I only ever suffer from it on my face and neck, it was mainly large red lumps, no white heads (Yuck, I know, sorry), I blush/flush easily, and seemed to get worse in summer.
Now the last point. I mentioned sun exposure in my previous post on light therapy. My previous GP would always say "It's coming up to Summer, that should help your skin improve." And I was sure that this wasn't the case with me, mine always seemed worse, ad as I said before, I put this done to Hayfever, having an itchy face, and so touching it a lot. But now I find it could have actually been Rosacea flaring up.
This really bad flare up I think could also be contributed to exercise. About a year and a half ago I took up running and was training for a half marathon (Yes I completed it thank you very much). I hadn't really done much exercise before this. Much of the training was through winter, and I can't specifically remember any problems then, except for my forehead being a tiny bit lumpy and would sting a bit. But as we came out of winter again and things started warming up. BOOM. MOUNTAIN FACE.
So now I feel a bit stuck. If I exercise, my face is going to get lumpy. If I don't exercise, the rest of me is going to get lumpy.
The last 5 on that list of triggers are so not me, so I believe they can all be counted out. I definitely think heat is what sets off the flare ups. So there is a benefit to me at least having those cold summers!
So after my appointment with the Dermatologist, I am staying on the Lymecycline, but the Adapalene has been swopped with Rozex. I tried to look up how Rozex works, but got "We're not sure why this helps Rosacea." Helpful. I'm hoping this will reduce some of the remaining redness on my right cheek, but it's a bit early to tell. I will be back seeing the Dermatologist in about 3 months time. They actually took some photos (which I keep telling myself I should be doing!), so I will have actual evidence of any improvement hopefully.
I will leave it at that for now, need to get dinner on the go! Sorry if there are any n's missing, I have a crumb or something stuck under my keyboard!
