How I cured cea, Part Deux (3 year follow-up report-Long)

[Guest guest]

I posted a few times here a couple of years ago detailing my

treatment and how it was progressing. Things were going very well and

I figured it was just temporary. But, now I have been rosacea free

for 3 years or so, so I wanted to update everyone on what worked for

me.

First, a little about me. I am a professional stock trader (and

nothing I will mention here is publicly traded . I am not a doc,

nor have any vested interest in anything I say here. I learned a

great deal from this user group, and hopefully there is something I

can add to benefit people.

I had classic rosacea signs, and 3 derms agreed. I did the Metro

cream/gel. I did the antibiotics. They didnt do anything. I tried

many topical over the counter medicines, with no real results. I

altered diet, but was not rigorous in it. Basically I had no hope and

my face was turning into a lobster with pimples. I read a TON of

info, most of it from this site, and here is what worked.

First, I went to a derm that was recommended here. A Dr. Jay in NYC.

He was noted for his experience with photoderm and rosacea. He agreed

I had cea (4th derm to agree). Well, unlike the previous derms,

he DID NOT recommend I keep piling on metro cream and call back in a

year. I did 5 or 6 photoderm sessions, and the redness really did go

away. There was minimal pain (ok, actually there was some pain and a

couple clear blisters on 4th session when we agreed to turn it up,

since it was working so well). But the redness was absolutely (90%

ish) gone. Oh, and blisters were gone in a couple days.

Now, I was thinking " Great this is incredible, but once the

capillaries come back I will be a lobster again " . Well, after a

couple months, the pimples and scaly skin appeared. Actually they

never left, but the photoderm did help them initially. So I

experimented with benzyl peroxide on my own, and the pimples vanished

eventually. I told this to Dr. Jay, and he prescribed Benzomycin, a

stronger version of Oxy 10 basically. This stuff worked miracles on

the pimples and scaly skin.

When I say miracles, I am talking about going from full blown pimples

and skin that I wanted to pick off with my fingernail, to clear skin

in 2-5 days. Now, I firmly believe that the pimples/scaly skin is a

major cause of redness, since it was really hard not to pick at it,

thus causing red sores. Those red sores stayed red for months, and

contributed to my lobster look, so eliminating them was very

important.

So, where do I stand several years later? If you saw me, and I told

you I had rosacea, you would laugh and say no way. I DO get pimples

and scaly skin from time to time, but as soon as it starts, I hit

them with benzamycin or the benzyl peroxide, and they fade in a

couple of days. I DO NOT pick at my face. I rarely touch my face

unless my hands are clean. I wash my face with neutrogena sensitive

skin soap daily. If my face itches, I scratch it lightly with the

back of my fingernail. I dont know if this helps, or if I am over

cautious, but the results speak for themselves. And the results

are...I am rosacea free, 95%. I would say 100% but I do occasionally

break out, and it takes a couple days to get it under control.

cea for me was a life altering event. It was devastating. My

dating life went from awesome, to zero in a year. Will I need to do

photoderm again? Perhaps. But so far, the regimen I described has

made it unnecessary. Do certain things still cause me to flare

massively red? Yes. For example, diet is a big issue. If I eat a

fatty meal, then drink alcohol in a hot room while tired, I can get

bright red. Not nearly as bright as before, and it is very rare that

it occurs, but it can happen. Sun, spices, heat, tomatoes, wine, the

list is endless. But they dont really bother me anymore.

I hope this helps you. If you have questions, I will answer them at

my email: stupid_mail@.... Remember, I am not a doc, and I can

only tell you what worked for me.

P.S. Diet is very important. I notice that when I eat fast food and

junk, I break out fairly regularly. When I dont exercise, same thing.

But, when I go on a mainly veggie diet, and workout a few times a

week (cardio stuff), I rarely if ever break out. Diet wont cure you

probably, but it aids in the maintenance. My guess is, this whole

rosacea thing is bacteria related, with a genetic component, mixed in

with an immune response. Hows that for convoluted? Godspeed to you