Having rosacea (row-zay-sha) sucks, especially if you are feeling like don’t have it under control and have lost the battle. I thought I didn’t care about having rosacea. But, the truth is, I do. It’s taken it’s toll on me; especially my self-esteem.
I’ve decided to start blogging about rosacea. Every Friday you can expect a post about rosacea; what it is, the ups and downs, tips (eating, make-up, etc.) and my journey in holistically getting rosacea under control, and hopefully getting “rid” of it.
So cheers to finally getting this off my chest, and starting to heal from the inside out, both emotionally, and physically.
Your face is really red.
They’re staring at me, they must be wondering what’s up with my face.
What happened to your face?
Ugh, I know, it’s ugly. It has changed.
You never had acne as a teen. Why do you have acne now?
Mmm, I know, right. It’s actually not acne, it’s rosacea.
And it SUCKS.
I first started noticing some redness on the left side of my cheek in 2012. Never put too much thought into it, and just let it be.
A couple years later, it started on the other right side. My doctor noticed and sent me to a dermatologist to check out what was happening to my skin. She was worried because I had “such nice skin” before, even during my teen years.
The dermatologist took about 15 minutes to check me out, said i had rosacea and basically gave me a prescription for topical medicine (some steroid cream that thins out your skin..) and some other drugs that were to be ingested orally. When I asked her what everything was, and if she could write it down for me, she said that “it wasn’t really important to know, that I should just do as instructed on the medication labels.”
So, as a well behaved patient, I left and ordered my prescription. When I got home, I realized that I didn’t really feel comfortable putting something on my face that would cause damage to my skin, and I didn’t want to ingest some drugs that I didn’t know were really going to help me. I felt like an idiot for putting my foot down and demanding to know what the dermatologist was prescribing me. And for allowing her to make me feel so dumb and insecure.
Bueno, after deciding to throw it all in the trash and saying “ah, fuck it.” I never did anything to stabilize or get my rosacea under control. And here I am, about 4 years later with it all over my face.
I thought it wouldn’t get worse.
I thought it would just go away.
Why was I so naive? UGH.
Look at my effing face.
Why did I let it get this far?
After finally accepting that rosacea was starting to impact my life, and essentially how I felt about myself, I decided that it was time to take back control and figure this shit out.
I started noticing that my rosacea would flare up with certain foods (spicy, and dairy. oh, and alcohol), and the sun.
So about two months ago, I cut spicy and dairy out of my diet. Adios queso, yogurt, milk, ice cream…y chile.
I believe that the stuff I put into my body is affecting my face, and causing this reaction, my rosacea.
I decided that I had to find a team, that also believed that I had to heal from the inside, out. So the search began, and a couple weeks into it, I found Derma Bright Clinic, a holistic skincare and slimming centre.
Derma Bright Clinic is unique in that they have a holistic approach to skin with a focus on anti-aging and acne; using non-invasive technology too as they are results orientated.
Derma Bright Clinic intrigued me for several reasons. First they believe that great skin starts from within. How you treat your body will have an affect on how your skin looks. Targeting from the inside and then assisting the process through the outside using aesthetic services such as exfoliation, professional extraction, masks and peels, a good take home routine. Secondly, Derma Bright Clinic uses products that are natural and effective, that wont pollute the skin. Furthermore, their passion is helping clients achieve healthy, bright skin and ultimately a state of well being.
Derma Bright Clinic sounded great. I felt like I had found my team. Now, I just had to meet them in person and see if we clicked.