Learning to Cope with Rosacea
So there’s a reason why I always look sunburned?
I went to my dermatologist recently, because I’m going to lose my really good health insurance plan soon.
Really. I’m not the type of person to go to the doctor for anything. I work in healthcare, and figure I can tough it out for most things. I do go to my yearly physical, because if I don’t, I don’t get refills for my migraine meds.
I was also not the type of person to go to the dermatologist when I was young, though I certainly could’ve benefited. My first visit was after I turned 30. However, I always get some good advice and care, and I’ve never regretted going.
My dermatologist is really nice. At my last visit, I mentioned some acne that I’ve been having. You’d think that at my age, that stuff would’ve stopped long ago. No matter what I did … changing my pillowcase every night, trying different soaps, using moisturizer, not using moisturizer … nothing seemed to help.
I also expected I’d be told to wear sunscreen. I could go outside for two minutes in the winter, and my face would be bright red.
To my surprise, the dermatologist diagnosed me with rosacea. I’d heard of it, but never even considered that I had that. I did have a pink-red butterfly rash sometimes, and wondered if it was a sign of lupus, but I had no other symptoms.
Rosacea is a skin condition characterized by redness and acne-like bumps. It primarily affects women, which means research about it is pretty much nil.
No one can say for sure what causes it. Great. But it was the reason for my skin problems.
My dermatologist prescribed me a cream to help combat the symptoms. It’s one more thing to think about every day, but it worked.
I was self-conscious of my butterfly rash for a week, but then it faded away. My skin improved. I was pleased.
And I was astonished that my skin looking red and bumpy wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t cleaning my face wrong. I wasn’t wearing the wrong sunscreen. It was just caused by my body being weird.
I definitely wish there were more research into what causes it, so that a cure can be found. I also wonder if it’s related to my chronic migraines--both rosacea and migraines primarily affect women.
I have to say, it’s weird to be diagnosed with a chronic condition out of the blue. But getting treated really helped my self-confidence.
I wonder what else my body will have in store for me as I age. It almost makes me want to take a genetic test, but I haven’t decided on that yet. All I can do now is put on my face cream every day, keep getting check-ups, and wait and see.
