Rosacea

I think I am going to make a doc appt soon but I was wondering how many of you suffer from Rosacea?  I started getting a rash on my upper lip and chin about a year ago.  I went to the doc for it and I was prescribed a cream that actually made it worse.  So I stopped it, the rash came and went - never went back to the doc for it.  I thought it might of been from the flouride in my toothpaste so I stopped flourinated toothpaste, went to all natural but the rash never went away completely.  So now, fast forward to now and for the past few months, the rash is now on my lower cheeks, chin, nose and upper lip with a dry feel on my lower cheek (jawbone area).  I was looking at some pics of Rosacea and it looks like Erythematotelangiectatic Rosacea.  I am already using Euchrin redness face wash and Euchrin redness cream and they help alot.  I mean this totally stinks!  I finally get my psoarasis under control when I went on 6mp and now I have to deal with this!  Anyway, I know that the websites say there is no known cause of Rosacea so I was wondering how many Uc'ers have this skin condition?

I have it too and like you found the creams prescribed only made it worse.  My GI doc also mentioned to me that sometimes that 'butterfly' rash over your nose cheeks could possibly be a sign of Lupus (another Autoimmune Disease) and he had me take a blood test to determine that was not the case.  Just another thought.

Erin, I've already had all the blood tests to rule out Lupus about 6 months ago when I went to see a Rheumatologist. Though of course, those blood tests are never 100% accurate so who knows. If the prescription creams made you worse, what do you do now to keep the redness down?

I have it also, mine seems like it gets worse when I am flairing. I use a otc triple antibiotic cream, it works for me.

I'm one of the lucky ones that also has Rosacea.  I actually posted something on here about it before, asking if anyone else had it.  I didn't get any replies, which led me to believe that I was the only one on HW that was lucky enough to have UC & Rosacea.  I was dx'd with it about 18 years ago.  I've had 2 laser treatments for it, and they hurt like hell.  Then you end up with bruising on your face for a few days, looking like I had been beaten up.  After the bruising has subsided, the rash is definitely better.  The thing is............When you have the laser treatments, it kills the veins that are causing the redness, and those veins will not come back, but new veins will pop up, so you are never really done with the laser treatments.  I had this done twice, to the tune of $500.00 each time. 

The redness on my face varies quite a bit.  Hot weather or hot beverages, spicy foods & nerves will increase the redness, along with cold weather and cold beverages and alcoholic beverages.  If I get aggravated about something, the redness will show up almost instantly. 

My dermatologist prescribed Finacea and Noritate cream for it.  I am not good at using them, I tried to be before but I didn't really notice much difference at all.  Also, when I am flaring, the redness increases.  I use a little bit of foundation to try to cover up some of the redness. My dermatologist is also big on keeping moisture on my face and keeping the sun off of it.  He tell me I should use sunscreen on my face even if I'm just running around doing errands.  He is big on using Cetaphil facial moisturizer.

No, foundation does not appear to aggravate mine. You would notice it more after the shower because of the temp of the water.
My dermatologist has done blood tests to check the a.n.a level for lupus. Sometimes it is higher than others, he hasn't tested me in probably 2 years now. Sometimes I was borderline for lupus level.

I have had rosacea for many years.  It's currently under control with Finacea, a cream.  I never thought that it might be related to my UC - that is an interesting thought. 

I had severe acne as a teen and when it moved out, then the rosacea moved in.  It's always something.  It is over my cheeks, nose, and chin.  Most of the time it's just red, but sometimes I have actual pimples and breakouts.  There is no cure for rosacea - you just have to try to control it.

I wish you the best.

Bumtum

For the past month or so people have commented about my rosy cheeks. I just assumed its one of the many changes in my body due to my meds. When I read this post I looked at my cheeks closely in the mirror and looked at some photos of rosacea online, looks like I have a mild case. I don't think its bad enough to need any treatment at this point.

Bumtum,
It's not that the Rosacea is related to UC, but they are both auto immune diseases. Aren't we lucky to have both??

I was told that by my dermatologist. I'm looking it up now myself, I guess I just took him at his word when he told me this.

No problem. We sometimes take our docs word because we believe they know what they are talking about or we misunderstand them. Lord knows, I've done it myself in the past. But, just because they don't know the cause of it yet doesn't mean necessarily that in the future that they will correlate it to having other auto immune system issues.