Hi I am new to RRDi, I need a help!

[Jessema0708]

Hello. 

I am Jesse and I am from Hong Kong. I am suffering from rosacea for more then three years and I found that there are little support in Hong Kong and China. 

Three years ago, one day, I found there are so many papales and pustules on my cheeks and it was flushing. In my first year of rosacea, I was misdiagnosed by three doctors and they just prescribed steroid for me. I didn’t use that as I know it’s not good for me. Until the fourth doctor, who is a dermatologist, he diagnosed me with a rosacea. He prescribed me doxycycline and azelaic acid. The azelaic acid made my skin burn and I stopped to use it after applied it once. The doxycycline works well and I took it for two weeks. It seems it has been cured and I was so happy with this.

However after the doxy treatment and until now the papales and pustules still appeared on my face and they were extremely itchy. As there are no flushing on my face, I didn’t think that it’s the rebound of the rocasea. Until there few months, my face become flushing and there are hundreds of pustules on my face. I found that my rocasea comes back occasionally ( I still can’t find what exactly trigger it in my case). I am so annoyed because it makes me so embarrassed and don’t want to go out. 

I kept reading on the rocasea forums and the studies. I just want to ask if my rosacea comes out occasionally (twice a month), is it still possible to be caused by the  Demodex mites ? I have recently purchased Soolantra but afraid to use it as so many people said it will get worse before it get better. 

I am now taking the Efracea (40mg modified release doxycycline). Would this be useful to calm the inflammation caused in the Soolantra treatment? 

So many people gave good comments on the ZZ cream but some said that it dries out the skin. I have got a very sensitive dry skin, should I try Soolantra first or ZZ cream? 

I have attached some photos in this post. Thanks a lot! 

[Guide]

Hi Jesse,

Thanks for joining the RRDi and posting. The Efracea (European version of Oracea) and Soolantra are the gold standard for rosacea treatment currently, the state of the art. It has been reported that using Soolantra it does get worse before it gets better, but some report no worsening of the skin, only improvement. The Efracea should improve your skin since you responded so well with doxycycline before. You may want to look into probiotic treatment since this is now a medically acceptable treatment for rosacea. After you skin improves, you may want to consider the long term effects of antibiotic treatment and opt out for probiotics. There are many who report successful treatment of the gut, which the RRDi recognizes as GUT Rosacea when rosacea responds to intestinal treatment. Not all rosacea is demodectic rosacea and the RRDi is the only non profit for rosacea that recognizes thirteen variants of rosacea. Since you have dry skin you may want to consider the new cosmetic ZZ cream which will be released in April 2019 and is designed for dry skin manufactured in China by the Zhongzhou Pharmaceutical Company, the company that manufactures the original famous ZZ Cream. The Cosmetic ZZ cream has already been released in Europe as Demoderm. You may respond well to it so it may be worth your effort to try it since you are so close to the source. You will know in thirty days whether the ZZ cream works for you. Since you live in Hong Kong you may find is easy to drop by Demodex Solutions, a sponsor of the RRDi, at this address: 

Demodex Solutions limited
1450 Chun Shing Factory Estate
85-89 Kwai Fuk Road
Kwai Chung NT Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 81916262
Mobile: (852) 85267369688
Fax: (852) 67369688
Email: info@demodex.com
Skype name: demodexsolutions

[Jessema0708]

Thanks for your reply and it really helps me a lot! 

I am so glad to meet RRDi and it just gave me so many information and solutions to tackle my skin problems (and not only rosacea). 

I read some articles about probiotics from the forum and I am now taking a probiotic capsule which claimed to have 4 million friendly bateria. Do you have any suggestions on the brand/ type of bacteria? 

Also I am now taking so many supplements. Evening Primrose oil, vitamin B, zinc picolinate and probiotics. I hope they work for me when I stop my Efracea ...

i will start my soolantra treatment on Tue and hope it works for me and without making my skin worse. 

 

Thanks a a lot again! 

[Guide]

Keep us posted on your progress. Taking probiotics (there is a lot of discussion on what brand to buy, but I think the main thing is your taking some kind of probiotic) along with Efracea can only help your gut and skin. I personally take bunch of vitamins and minerals. If you are interested in this subject, read this article on this FAQ:

Do Rosacea Sufferers have Nutritional Deficiencies?