Introducing Myself [long]

July 3, 2002

I said I'd introduce myself, so here goes, I was born a poor, black

boy. . . no wait, that's not right.

The first hint that I picked up that something was going on with my

skin was when I went in to see the doctor about an all-over skin rash.

(turned out to be an allergic reaction to NSAIDs, which is a complete

PITA). The doctor examining me said something about me having it on my

face as well. I was pretty sure I actually didn't, and when I looked

in a mirror later, that was just my complexion.

Then I got somewhat sensitized to the subject of rosacea as it came up

in a few conversations in person and on the net. But, it wasn't really

until I colored my hair red that I noticed that my cheeks were

*always* red. I've always had a strawberries and cream complexion, w/

zillions of freckles, but normally there would still be times when my

face was uniformly pale, not really anymore. Still, I thought it was

probably just that I was getting too much exposure to the sun. So, I

tried using the Fallene Totalblock and the redness diminished

appreciably, but it didn't entirely ever go away. I had a reaction to

the Totalblock so I switched to entirely physical sunscreens. Even

using the highest spfs I could find, and applying them diligently, the

redness started coming back to my exposed skin (I'm starting to wonder

if I've developed a photosensitivity, but I digress), so I made an

appt. w/ a dermatologist to get it checked out.

That was an interesting, but not entirely enlightening experience. The

resident who came in to do the preliminary stock-taking initially said

that she didn't think I had rosacea, as I didn't really have any

blemish-y bumps. Then when the consultant came in, he said that

there's rosacea and then there's *rosacea* (which I found a little

cryptic). Then, while he was doing his examination, the resident

mentioned that actually I did have a few bumps on my chin and

forehead. But, both of them seemed much less interested in that than

in my risk of skin cancer, which was somewhat the reverse of my

concerns - although I'm at high risk for skin cancer (v. fair skin,

long history of serious burns, family history), it's never

particularly worried me. I figure I know I'm at risk, so I'll see it,

I'll get it snipped out before it has a chance to spread, and I'll

move on.

We did briefly discuss avoiding the sun and other triggers for

rosacea, and the resident said that if I wanted a gel, she could write

a prescription. I figured that if the extent of what I had was a few

bumps I probably didn't need it. In retrospect, I'm not sure whether

that was a good idea - I tend to try to avoid using medicines unless I

(or, of course, my doctor) feel I really need them, but now I wonder

if I could nip this in the bud by starting treatment now. On the other

hand, neither of the doctors seemed to feel that it was important, so

maybe not.

So, that's my rosacea history. Now that I've noticed them, the few

persistent bumps I have are irritating, but not painful or terribly

noticeable. The flushing, whether heat, stress or diet-induced, is

rather more of a problem, both in terms of looks and comfort. As far

as that goes, I guess my next step is to figure out what exactly

triggers it for me and then what I can or want to do to avoid those

triggers. As you can probably tell, it doesn't seem like it's very

advanced, but I would like to do everything reasonable to keep it from

getting worse.

I'm glad I found this group (a recommendation from an

alt.fashionista). I know there are lots of good resources on the web

and in the real world, but sometimes it's so much more helpful to be

able to ask a question and get it answered by people who know from

experience.

I will try to check the archives before I ask my questions, but I do

have a *lot* of questions. <g>

Martha

July 3, 2002