Saturday, December 12, 2009

Rosacea Treatments?

I've been diagnosed with Rosacea (I'm a 17yo female). I was given Prascion Cleanser (for redness), Oracea pill (for pimples and some help with redness), and Clindamycin 1% lotion (for pimples and some help with redness).





I'm pretty confident that these products will get rid of the pimples in time. I also think they'll help the mild constant redness I've been experiencing, but I think I may need something for the rest of the redness and the annoying flushing I experience when I get hot.





What products have you used for Rosacea? What worked for you? What didn't work for you? Thanks.Rosacea Treatments?
The treatments you have been put on should greatly reduce the symptoms you are experiencing. People respond differently to medications. If the ones you were put on do not give you prompt relief, there are alternatives that can be used. It is very good that you doctor is using a double-pronged attack by using the usual topical treatments combined with an oral antibiotic which tends to work faster.


If you continue to have the flushing experiences, your doctor can give you a medication that has proved effective at helping women going through menopause. The duration of your treatment depends on the type and severity of your symptoms, but typically you'll notice an improvement within one to two months. Because symptoms may recur if you stop taking medications, long-term regular treatment is often necessary.





I have included a link to a great Mayo Clinic article about this condition. I suggest you read it for more information. Some excerpts are shown below. Good luck.





Treatment


Although there's no way to eliminate rosacea, effective treatment can relieve its signs and symptoms. Most often this requires a combination of prescription treatments and certain self-care measures on your part.





Your doctor also may recommend certain moisturizers, soaps, sunscreens and other products to improve the health of your skin. If hot flashes appear to trigger your rosacea, you might ask your doctor what treatment options are available for the signs and symptoms of menopause.





Medications


Doctors often prescribe topical antibiotics to treat rosacea, more for their anti-inflammatory properties than to kill bacteria. A common topical antibiotic prescribed is metronidazole (Metrocream, Metrogel, Noritate). Another prescription medication is azelaic acid (Azelex, Finacea), which reduces redness and inflammation.





Oral antibiotics also are prescribed because they tend to work faster than topical ones. In many cases, dermatologists first prescribe both oral and topical antibiotics to lessen signs and symptoms, followed by long-term use of a topical antibiotic alone to maintain remission. Some of the most common prescription oral antibiotics include tetracycline, minocycline, doxycycline and erythromycin.





Self-care


One of the most important things you can do is to minimize your exposure to anything that causes a flare-up. Because everyone is different, find out what factors affect you so that you can avoid them. Keeping a running list of your own flare-up triggers might help you identify the things that are a problem for you.





Here are other suggestions for preventing flare-ups:





Wear sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher to protect your face from the sun.


Protect your face in the winter with a scarf or ski mask.


Avoid irritating your facial skin by rubbing or touching it too much.


Avoid facial products that contain alcohol or other skin irritants.


When using moisturizer with a topical medication, apply the moisturizer after the medication has dried.


Use products that are labeled noncomedogenic. These won't clog your oil and sweat gland openings (pores) as much.


Avoid overheating.


If you wear makeup, consider using green- or yellow-tinted pre-foundation creams and powders, because they're designed to counter skin redness.


Avoid alcohol.Rosacea Treatments?
There are so much more medicines available than when I was having problems with Rosacea! The only I used was cortizone type prescription meds, which worked great, but I wouldn't want you to put the steroids in your body is you didn't have to. Now this, I don't recommend to you at this point, but it might be something to look forward to later in life. My Rosacea totally went away with pregnancy.

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