Day 7

Morning:

Evening:

Comparison after 1 week:

I've got a small flare-up on one side of my face. Day 7 didn't look as good as Day 6, and I think it's because I'm not giving enough time for the Prosacea to be absorbed before adding moisturizer. I'm hoping that putting some extra Prosacea on that spot overnight will help. Either way, I'm happy with 1 week's progress!

Day 6

Morning:

Evening:

Comparison, Day 0 to end of Day 6:

Remember how I said on Day 3 that I figured the irritation would clear up in 3 days or so? :)

This was the first day where I really felt like there was significant improvement. I haven't noticed any new major breakouts. There's still small stuff popping up, and the old marks are still in the process of fading. But I feel like I look better than I have in months. I'm actually kind of excited to go out and not have any major acne marks to feel shamed of.

My skin is still flaking/peeling. That's kind of a bummer. I'm hoping it stops or decreases in frequency over the next week or so. If it doesn't, and my skin continues to clear, I'll live with dry skin if it means no more redness or acne-like marks :)

Day 5

Morning:

Evening:

My forehead started peeling/flaking profusely the last two days. I think it's just recovering from the reaction to the Prosacea. I'm hoping that it will have gone back to normal by the end of the week.

Comparison, Day 0 to end of Day 5:

Day 4

Sorry for not updating on time! Got busy all yesterday and didn't have time :)

Morning:

Evening:

My face looks like it's clearing up from the flare-up caused by Prosacea. Changing to twice a day seems to have cut down on the irritation a lot. It's no longer itchy and painful throughout the day.

Comparison, Day 0 to end of Day 4:

There's significantly fewer large breakouts on my face than usual. There's more smaller bumps and blemishes, but I'm hoping they'll fade soon enough!

Day 3

Morning:

 

Afternoon (did not apply more Prosacea after this, just took a photo):

 

 Night:

Day 0 to end of Day 3 comparison:

As I said in my last post, my skin feels drier than previously, and has some painful feelings now and then. I've cut back to only applying Prosacea in the morning and at night, and moisturizing more regularly throughout the day. It looks worse now, but I'm betting it'll be clearing in 3 days or so.

Change to Twice a Day

The first two days I applied Prosacea three times a day. The instructions say 2-3 times is safe. But I think 3 times is too much, at least to start. I'm cutting back to twice (morning & night). My face just itches a lot. I applied some moisturizer midday instead of another round of prosacea, and it burns a little.

I'm thinking that I will need to moisturize after each round of Prosacea. Despite the instructions and booklet that claim this stuff 'moisturizes', I don't necessarily buy it. I went onto the Prosacea website (http://www.alva-amco.com/products/prosacea) and looked at the FAQ. It says to wait 15-20 minutes after applying Prosacea before applying moisturizer, so I think I'll wait about half an hour before applying moisturizer.

Day 2

Morning:

Midday:

Night:

Comparison , Day 0 to end of Day 2:

 Thoughts:

After applying Prosacea, my skin feels very tight. It's like wearing face paint. I'm afraid of smiling or touching my face for fear of causing problems. I don't put on my glasses for a while after I apply it. The feeling goes away after a while. I haven't really timed how long that takes, though.

My skin felt itchy a couple times during Day 2. When I showered in the evening, my face hurt when I applied light pressure to my cheeks. When I cleansed my face after the shower, my cleansing gel really, REALLY hurt. I couldn't finish cleansing and had to wash it away with cool water. I'm also 95% sure that I'm having a reaction to the Prosacea. My forehead is covered in tiny red bumps, and I usually don't have that kind of problem on my forehead. However, I know that a lot of treatments make you look worse before you look better, so I'm not seriously concerned about that kind of thing right now. Assuming the pain subsides, I will continue to grin and bear through the reaction.

Day 1

Here is what my face looked like the following morning, after my first round of Prosacea:

No real change, obviously. One night won't work wonders! I'm mostly looking to prevent new problems. I'm not paying a whole lot of attention to how quickly current breakouts heal, especially since so many of them are bad right now.

I washed and cleansed my face, then applied another round of Prosacea.

Midday:

I washed and cleansed again, then applied another round.

Night:

I cleansed and applied another round, and went to bed.

Comparison of Day 0 to end of Day 1:

Day 0: before

I decided to take two 'before' photos. I absolutely hate them, as you can imagine. It was late at night, I was tired, and I had no desire to show this awful face to the internet. But I'm doing it for you guys, not for me!

As an aside, I have trichotillomania. It means I pull my hair out. In my case, specifically my eyelashes. That accounts for the gap in my eyelashes you see on one eye in photos.

Why Prosacea?

I'm fed up. I'm 26 and look almost as bad as I did when I was a teenager. So I looked online recently for over the counter, inexpensive regimens to treat my Rosacea. (I can't go to a dermatologist, as I have neither the funds now the health insurance to do so. If you can afford it, go to one before doing anything yourself!)

For my first try, I applied rubbing alcohol as a disinfectant and toner after getting out of the shower, before applying a moisturizer. It didn't seem to have any continual effect. My skin wasn't any more dry than previously, but it didn't seem to cut down on the redness or acne.

I looked online again and saw some comments on a product called Prosacea. It's surprising to see an OTC product targeted specifically at Rosacea sufferers, rather than a catch-all skin care product.

I'm skeptical. I'm sure the product works for some people, but I have doubts it will work for me. However, at $10 bucks a tube, I can't really complain. And if it does have some effect, I can always look into more effective versions of a similar treatment later. The active ingredient in Prosacea is Sulfur, and I'm sure I can find other products online with this ingredient if this works.

As I looked online, a lot of the skepticism comes from the fact that many of the individuals praising the product are new to the forums people are posting on. Honestly, that doesn't surprise me. Why sign up for a forum just to say a product didn't work for you? However, if something really did change your life (positive or negative), you're more likely to go through the trouble of saying so for others.

I noticed a distinct lack of photos (as did many posters). Nobody showing 'before' and 'after'. I and others were disappointed.

Then I thought...I have a camera. I want to try this stuff. And I want to document if it has any changes on myself anyway. So why shouldn't *I* be the one to take photos of myself and compare?

So here we are. Let's see how well this stuff works.

An introduction

I have Rosacea.

You can't tell from pictures, usually. I look to have a light pink complexion, at worst

But it's a lie.

I rarely allow others to photograph me. Certainly not close up. Any photo I take myself ends up heavily edited to remove acne, scars, puffiness, and overall redness from my face.

Unedited vs Edited   

Both of these photos were taken the same night, within seconds of each other. The one on the left is unedited. The one on the right, I've matched the skin tone of my face with that of my neck, and removed acne blemishes.

I've been a sufferer of Rosacea for years. I have always had a very pink face. I remember in elementary school, a girl asked me if I was wearing blush. Growing up, adults would tell me how pretty my rosy cheeks were. As I became a teen, however, I got horrible (and I mean horrible) acne. A relative asked me if I had measles or mumps once because of how awful it was. I went to a dermatologist, but it didn't help. Into my 20s, I kept the very red face and occasional breakout, but I have never been pimple-free.

You can see the pink color and some blemishes. Age 22 or 23. Unedited.

In the last couple of years, however, it's taken a turn for the worse. No matter what I do I always have acne. My face seems redder than ever. And the worst of all is the flaky skin. It seems no matter how much I moisturize, my skin flakes and peels. It's incredibly embarrassing. If I use something to treat the acne, then my skin dries out. If I use something to treat the dryness, then my acne doesn't change. I've even tried doing nothing (I don't suggest it).

Nothing helps. So I recently decided that I'm going to make some changes, and I won't stop trying until something sticks.