I was wondering what other folks used....I see a lot of "alternative" treatments online but I'm assuming most of them don't work. Any advice? Thanks!

Her friend, an acupuncturist, suggested she try a Chinese medicine practitioner. He treated her with a combination of herbs and maybe acupuncture (I forget exactly, but I know there were herbs involved). Her symptoms went away within a couple of weeks and her skin has been fine for quite a while now. Seriously, the treatment seems to have worked. She swears by it.

"Instead of gotu kola, I would recommend treating rosacea with supplements of evening primrose oil, black currant oil or borage oil. These are all good sources of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which improves the health of the skin. It usually takes six to eight weeks to see changes after adding GLA to the diet. Black currant oil in doses of 500 milligrams twice a day is the most economical source of GLA.

Dr. Andrew Weil"

My food triggers include anything spicy, tomato-based sauces, alcoholic beverages of any sort, nuts, chocolate. (Naturally, I've just made a list of my formerly-favorite things.) Almost any sort of soap, cleanser, lotions, or make up will cause flare-ups for me. I use only Aquanil cleanser and DML moisturizing lotion (Ask your pharmacy to order for you.)---I have no financial interest in these products. Almost anything else is too harsh. I seldom wear makeup and haven't been able to find a sunscreen I can use. Finding my triggers and avoiding them when possible has made my rosacea much more manageable. Good luck.

I have found that Bare Minerals make up covers up the little bit I have, and doesnt seem to bother my skin and is a 15 sunblock. Once in awhile I get the bumps too.

First read Dr. Geoffrey Nase's book. http://www.drnase.com He is weird, his website is very ego driven - however he has done extensive research in Rosacea literature and his book is a complete compendium for the patient and physician. See if you can borrow it from a library or buy it cheap on Amazon. I would hope that your treating clinician has read this book. His writing style is odd, ranging from very emotional & personal (he has the disease) to over simplified as if he is writing for 6 year olds - however the information is invaluable for patients and their Drs. He outlines treatment and their effectiveness including lasers.

Second - avoid products with irritating ingredients such as perfumes and treat skin gently. Check out Paula Begoun products and carefully read through her website. Again, she is well researched and up to date on cosmetics and topical preparations. Her products are perfume, irritant free. Her "Beauty Bible" book is highly recommended for everyone not just rosacea sufferers. Her writing style is repetitive & simple, but well backed up by research from reliable, ethical sources. BTW, I don't work for Paula, but I do use her skin care products and some of her make-up. With make-up I often find I do as well being careful with my choices in the drugstore.

There is a lot of nonsense and irresponsible information published in women's magazines about make-up, skin products and rosacea which is unfortunately where most of us, including our mothers, sisters, friends and even dermatologists learn about how to care for skin. All of it perpetrated by commercial companies who want to sell their products. They pay for the ads and they expect stories and product placement to feature their products and to extol their virtues - which may not be accurate. There are few reliable sources and Paula Begoun is the only one I've found. For example, Bare Minerals that boopadaboo uses, touts themselves as good for rosacea, however they use bismuth oxychloride which can be very irritating and therefore other manufacturers may be a better choice - you'll never find that info in a magazine, however I read it a couple of years ago in Paula's book "Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me".

Just because "it’s natural" doesn’t mean it’s better for you –consider poison ivy, cyanide in pits and pips of fruit and even vitamins such as A in an excessively high dose leads to cirrhotic liver and even death.

If you want more information, or details on my personal choices, you can email me at skypathway at yahoo.com.

Her (regular Western medicine) dermatologist also suggested tea tree oil, which made her sensitive skin much worse, so apparently she's allergic to that too.

I wish that I felt comfortable sending you "before and after" pictures of her poor face, which looks so much better now. In fact, her skin looks normal. She is very careful about which soaps and shampoos she uses, and she doesn't drink red wine or eat spicy foods often. She does exercise a lot and her face gets red, but that goes away quickly and doesn't cause a problem.

Good luck. I know you'll find a way to control this condition. I just wanted to share what worked for my daughter, and hope it helps.

I do have it in one eye though and that give me fits. I had it under control for a long time by just using Metrogel on my eyelids. I guess enough of it absorbed deeply enough to keep the bacteria at bay on the conjunctiva or wherever it hangs out.

Anyway, I slacked off because I hadn't had a flareup in a long time, but after a couple of weeks my eye started getting red again. I started using a boric acid eye wash once or twice a day but that didn't help as much as it usually does. Then I switched to a better one (B&L Collyrium) and now IT isn't even doing the trick. Usually the eye wash twice a day does it. I'm gonna try stepping it up to three or four times a day, I guess. I'm also using the Metrogel but I think that it's only effective on very mild flareups of ocular rosacea.

There are prescription drops but they are ridiculously overpriced, like $30-40 for a quarter ounce, which is like 8 drops! Hubby used to get free samples but the manufacturers stopped doing that, probably because the samples were the same size as the prescription bottles (TEENY TINY). So they weren't making any money.

I could probably do hot compresses four times a day too. But that is SO boring. I've had various eye problems since i was quite little and have spent more time than I care to think about with hot compresses on my eyes. Yech.

However, I do notice it getting a little worse with age, so I guess I should see a dermatologist. I see from the various sites here that I do quite a few of the "wrong" things - wash my face with a washcloth, take very hot showers, etc.

Guess I need to rethink things...

I have ocular rosacea too and I find when I keep my facial rosacea well under control - the ocular settles down too. Do you get chalazia (inflammatory bump on the eyelid) and/or styes or just the dry eye symptoms? Do try treating your skin as if it's sensitive - it might help your eyes.

I used to get sties a lot as a kid and less frequently as an adult. Haven't had chalazions much to speak of.

Both my eyes are chronically dry and that's made worse by my not closing them all the way when I sleep. (I think my optometrist-hubby diagnosed that condition! Convenient, huh?) When I get flareups, my eye gets really red and burns and generally feels irritated. I don't get any gunk in it like with conjunctivitis, but I do tear more in the a.m. and sometimes other times of the day.

I got this flareup whipped by doing a warm compress for about 15 minutes the other night. I park myself on the toilet seat with a good book in one hand and the compress in the other and I reheat it under running water every minute or two. Very boring, but the book helps---though I am very nearsighted and have to hold it about six inches from my face without my glasses!

Oy. I remind myself a lot that there are FAR worse maladies than this. It really is just a pain in the neck. I mean eye.