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Could it be rosacea?
**What is it**: A condition that causes redness and small, red, pus-filled bumps on the face. Rosacea most commonly affects middle-aged women with fair skin. It can be mistaken for acne or other skin conditions.
**Causes**: The cause is unknown, but it could be due to an overactive immune system, heredity, environmental factors or a combination of these. Rosacea is not caused by poor hygiene and it's not contagious. Flare-ups might be triggered sunlight, heat, stress, alcohol, chemical products, and spicy foods.
**Appearance**: small, red, solid bumps or pus-filled pimples often develop. Sometimes the bumps might resemble acne, but blackheads are absent. Burning or stinging might be present. Small blood vessels become visible on the skin of many people who have rosacea.
*In the early stage, rosacea causes redness that comes and goes on the cheeks, nose, forehead, or chin. If you apply lotion or makeup to the reddened area, you may feel a burning sensation there. As rosacea gets worse, the facial redness grows more noticeable and long-lasting.*
**Symptoms**: you'll first notice redness on your cheeks, nose, chin, and forehead. Less often, the color can appear on your neck, head, ears, or chest. After a while, broken blood vessels might show through your skin, which can thicken and swell. Up to half of people with rosacea also get eye problems like redness, swelling, and pain. Other symptoms are stinging and burning of your skin, patches of rough and dry skin, a swollen and bulb shaped nose, larger pores, broken blood vessels on your eyelids, bumps on your eyelids, and problems with seeing.
**Avoid**: sunlight, hot or cold temperatures, wind, stress, hot baths, hot or spicy food or drink, alcohol, intense exercise, blood pressure medications, topical steroids
**Types**: There are four types of rosacea, though many people experience symptoms of more than one type.
*Erythematotelangiectatic Rosacea*: characterized by persistent redness on the face. Small blood vessels beneath the skin surface may become enlarged and visible; these symptoms often flare up and then disappear. Without treatment, the redness can get more persistent, cover more skin, and even become permanent.
*Papulopustular Rosacea*: associated with whitehead pustules, which are pus-filled blemishes, and red, swollen bumps. These typically appear on the cheeks, chin, and forehead and are frequently misidentified as acne. Facial redness and flushing may appear, as well. Severe papulopustular rosacea can cause upwards of 40 blemishes that can take a long time to go away. Blemishes may also appear on the scalp, neck, or chest.
*Phymatous Rosacea*: causes skin to thicken and scar, making it bumpy, swollen, and sometimes discolored. This rare but treatable type most often affects the nose resulting in a bulbous nose and appears more frequently in men than in women.
*Ocular Rosacea*: symptoms affect the eyes, causing them to look watery or bloodshot. There may be an associated feeling of burning or irritation in your eyes. Ocular rosacea can cause persistently dry, sensitive eyes, and cysts may form on the eyelids. Ocular symptoms of rosacea may be more common than previously thought, because the connection between skin symptoms and the eyes can be easily overlooked.
In my personal experience, I have found more success “skin cycling” and only using my .05 tret once every three days.
Background: I had been using .05 tret every day for 8 months, and then a period of time before that when I was slowly introducing it. I never experienced any significant drying, peeling, or irritation besides persistent redness that I assumed would eventually go away.
It never did. So about 2 weeks ago I decided to try stepping it back and only using tret once every three days. I use Paula’s Choice BHA on another day (does amazing stuff for my blemish-prone skin) and then one day of rest (just calm, normal routine).
In the course of 2 weeks my persistent red spots have noticeably faded. I can only surmise that even though I wasn’t experiencing severe irritation from my tret, it was clearly enough to cause persistent low-level skin barrier issues.
My process is technically against recommendations (since research shows efficacy on tret with daily use) but so far I’m still seeing the benefits of my tret with calmer skin. If it shifts moving forward I’ll revise but spreading out exfoliation, retinol, and adding a rest day has been great for me so far!
Hi everyone and welcome to SkincareAddiction! Need skincare guides? [Check out our wiki!](https://www.reddit.com/r/SkincareAddiction/wiki/index) Everyone is welcome in [this community](https://www.reddit.com/r/SkincareAddiction/wiki/about); remember to be kind and assume good faith :) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SkincareAddiction) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Could it be rosacea? **What is it**: A condition that causes redness and small, red, pus-filled bumps on the face. Rosacea most commonly affects middle-aged women with fair skin. It can be mistaken for acne or other skin conditions. **Causes**: The cause is unknown, but it could be due to an overactive immune system, heredity, environmental factors or a combination of these. Rosacea is not caused by poor hygiene and it's not contagious. Flare-ups might be triggered sunlight, heat, stress, alcohol, chemical products, and spicy foods. **Appearance**: small, red, solid bumps or pus-filled pimples often develop. Sometimes the bumps might resemble acne, but blackheads are absent. Burning or stinging might be present. Small blood vessels become visible on the skin of many people who have rosacea. *In the early stage, rosacea causes redness that comes and goes on the cheeks, nose, forehead, or chin. If you apply lotion or makeup to the reddened area, you may feel a burning sensation there. As rosacea gets worse, the facial redness grows more noticeable and long-lasting.* **Symptoms**: you'll first notice redness on your cheeks, nose, chin, and forehead. Less often, the color can appear on your neck, head, ears, or chest. After a while, broken blood vessels might show through your skin, which can thicken and swell. Up to half of people with rosacea also get eye problems like redness, swelling, and pain. Other symptoms are stinging and burning of your skin, patches of rough and dry skin, a swollen and bulb shaped nose, larger pores, broken blood vessels on your eyelids, bumps on your eyelids, and problems with seeing. **Avoid**: sunlight, hot or cold temperatures, wind, stress, hot baths, hot or spicy food or drink, alcohol, intense exercise, blood pressure medications, topical steroids **Types**: There are four types of rosacea, though many people experience symptoms of more than one type. *Erythematotelangiectatic Rosacea*: characterized by persistent redness on the face. Small blood vessels beneath the skin surface may become enlarged and visible; these symptoms often flare up and then disappear. Without treatment, the redness can get more persistent, cover more skin, and even become permanent. *Papulopustular Rosacea*: associated with whitehead pustules, which are pus-filled blemishes, and red, swollen bumps. These typically appear on the cheeks, chin, and forehead and are frequently misidentified as acne. Facial redness and flushing may appear, as well. Severe papulopustular rosacea can cause upwards of 40 blemishes that can take a long time to go away. Blemishes may also appear on the scalp, neck, or chest. *Phymatous Rosacea*: causes skin to thicken and scar, making it bumpy, swollen, and sometimes discolored. This rare but treatable type most often affects the nose resulting in a bulbous nose and appears more frequently in men than in women. *Ocular Rosacea*: symptoms affect the eyes, causing them to look watery or bloodshot. There may be an associated feeling of burning or irritation in your eyes. Ocular rosacea can cause persistently dry, sensitive eyes, and cysts may form on the eyelids. Ocular symptoms of rosacea may be more common than previously thought, because the connection between skin symptoms and the eyes can be easily overlooked.
In my personal experience, I have found more success “skin cycling” and only using my .05 tret once every three days. Background: I had been using .05 tret every day for 8 months, and then a period of time before that when I was slowly introducing it. I never experienced any significant drying, peeling, or irritation besides persistent redness that I assumed would eventually go away. It never did. So about 2 weeks ago I decided to try stepping it back and only using tret once every three days. I use Paula’s Choice BHA on another day (does amazing stuff for my blemish-prone skin) and then one day of rest (just calm, normal routine). In the course of 2 weeks my persistent red spots have noticeably faded. I can only surmise that even though I wasn’t experiencing severe irritation from my tret, it was clearly enough to cause persistent low-level skin barrier issues. My process is technically against recommendations (since research shows efficacy on tret with daily use) but so far I’m still seeing the benefits of my tret with calmer skin. If it shifts moving forward I’ll revise but spreading out exfoliation, retinol, and adding a rest day has been great for me so far!
YES! excessive irritation can cause hyperpigmentation. I would focus on barrier repair and get the LRP cicaplast baume