This post may contain affiliate links

I was diagnosed with rosacea in June 2019. It is is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition that most often affects the face. Often mistaken for acne, eczema, or a skin allergy. Rosacea is when certain facial blood vessels enlarge, giving the cheeks and nose a flushed appearance. And the redness is constant, it is not natural. I had never had this before, so I went to a skin clinic. For the next three months, I was only allowed to use three products on my face, I will only be using gentle cleansers that I have in my beauty product useup.

Morning

Cleanser, Serum, SPF

Evening

Oil Cleanser, Cleanser, Serum

This was to repair by damaged barrier function.  At my six weeks follow up appointment in mid August, my redness had really gone down. The doctor was so impressed and said that I was glowing. I actually felt exhausted and just wanted to have my afternoon nap. She said that as I started HRT, I should continue using these products for another three weeks and then gradually one a week introduce my existing beauty products back in. Then after the ten weeks, I had to have a long hard look at my beauty products and remove anything that I knew would flare me up. I was trialling glycolic acid, but had to end it and sold any remaining products. I have very pale Irish skin. I burn so quickly in the sun. So the new products that I will be using to see how they work for me are from many French pharmacy brands. Avene , La Roche Posay and Bioderma. I have found some of these products already in my beauty cupboard so I can trail them after my three month break. I was also gifted some sensitive skin products from Simple, Clean And Clear, and Doctor Jart.

Triggers

During the three month break, I would keep a diary of things that would flare me;

Washing my face in the morning, as soon as I started to touch my face, the redness arrived. So the next morning, I switched to a micellar water with my bamboo pads. Lucky for me I had some travels ones from Bioderma, La Roche Posay and Ren to use up. During this time in the summer, hayfever return and my eyes were very sore in the morning. I re-introduced Eyebright and that did not upset my skin.The sun is another factor. I have a south facing garden, and I have to cover up my face if I want to attempt to spend anytime there. Every evening, if I am in bed, I have to close my bedroom blackout curtains, as the sun goes down straight into my face. I used to enjoy the feeling until the doctor told me it was damaging to my face. In the summer, the sun would be going down from 6 pm onwards.

This is my new rosacea journey. This was a new challenge to deal with. Lets see how I get on with this one.