see the dermatologist about my possible case of rosacea

I have rosacea.

Fortunately, it’s not really terrible or anything at the moment, so the main thing is to just keep it from getting worse.

He (the dermatologist)said that a lot of the stuff I’ve been doing so far is good…lay off the skin stuff with alcohol, wear sunblock (he suggested a couple for me), etc…he also said that my vegetarianism could probably only help. Oh, and the green tea. Apparently antioxidants = good.

Anyhoo, I got a couple pamphlets and such on rosacea and the treatments thereof. Aaaaannnd my Mum ended up spending an inordinate amount of money on skin products/medicine for me. Lemme see…This stuff called Revale, metrogel, and some kind of over-the-counter stuff called citrus bioflavanoids that are supposed to keep my veins from exploding. Good stuff. I got a free bag out of the deal, so that was pretty cool.

So, I’ve kinda resigned myself, but I’m certainly not going to just sit around and let myself fall apart.

Since the kind I had been wearing had alcohol in it, I ended up not wearing sunblock today. After shuffling around at Walgreens for a while, the only kind I could find that didn’t seem to have alcohol was this baby sunblock from Banana Boat…and some Burt’s Bees with witchhazel, which I’ve heard is bad for this condition. I got the banana boat, and shall hope for the best.

I also have an appointment with my dermatologist first thing Monday morning. Part of me wants to not try any new skin products (including the sunblock) until I’ve seen him, but I don’t want to go that long without sunblock.

In short, I’m feeling confused and a little miserable.

At only nineteen years old, I feel I’m a little young for this, but I’m almost certain that’s what it is.

http://www.medicinenet.com/rosacea/article.htm

Having looked this up, I pretty much fit the ticket. I’ve been meaning to go see my dermatologist for a while, but this little discovery has sped things up a little.

In the meantime, I’m going to toss out all the skin products with alcohol in them, quit taking super-hot showers, and make sure to wear sunblock every day.

And I need to stop touching and rubbing at my face. I’m rather bad about that.

This is kind of upsetting for me, since I’ve always been told I have such pretty skin. But in a way I feel almost more confident, now that I have an idea about what’s been going on.

I really hope that catching onto this early and doing what I need to do will keep it from getting too bad.