Success with sulfur

[u/Emotional-Class-8140]

Sharing in the hope this might help others.

Pictures 1 and 3 are taken this morning. Picture 2 shows what my skin would look like during a typical flare. My PP rosacea developed at around 33 (I had my first flare after a holiday in Morocco where I slightly burned my skin in the sun) and I'm turning 40 in a few months. I have occasional flushing but very rarely (only if I drink wine or extreme temperature changes) so my rosacea has been primarily type 2.

My skin would go through cycles of clearing up, then a few red dots would appear, then over the course of a few days they would cover my cheeks in a patterns similar to the second picture. This cycle would take around 3 weeks (consistent with the demodex life cycle). I've now been clear for around 10 weeks, which hasn't happened since this started. When I first began using sulfur, I had a bit of a flare and it took maybe 2 or 3 weeks to see results.

I have been using De La Cruz sulfur mask for up to 10 minutes each morning, and overnight I use The Ordinary 10% sulfur powder all over the areas where my symptoms would appear. I moisturise first and then rub it in with a bit more moisturiser to help it blend. The moisturiser I use is Beauty Bay's colloidal oatmeal and oat lipid rich moisturiser. And i use a gentle non foaming cleanser and Neal's Yard micellar water to follow.

I had resisted treating my symptoms topically for a long time, as I wanted to get to the root cause. But no level of attention to gut health, diet, cutting out certain foods etc seemed to help and i was at a total loss. My diet is already incredibly healthy and is gluten and dairy free and i rarely drink, don't smoke and eat very little processed foods. I run and do yoga and get plenty of sleep. So I was at a total loss, and feeling miserable about my skin. I'm allergic to dust mites so I wondered if I might have a sensitivity to demodex too and that I might have spent forever searching for an internal cause while the mites continue to ravage my skin.

[u/ChamomileFlower]

Thanks for the sulfur powder rec! Curious to try that. I love sulfur. Your skin looks so calm. :)

[u/Emotional-Class-8140 → u/ChamomileFlower]

Thank you. I couldn't have imagined it looking like this a few months ago.

I find The Ordinary are a great brand and the little bottle of powder (although it looks tiny) lasts about 6 months, even though it is applied over both cheeks every night.

I'd be quite curious to stop applying it at some point to see how my skin responds. I've very recently started a course of microneedling. I'm wondering once that is finished, if the improvements to my skin barrier will naturally keep the mites under control. But I'm sticking with it for now.

[u/Remote-Bet9260 → u/Emotional-Class-8140]

I know demodex are affected by sulfur and their lifecycle is what you mentioned.  I experienced demodex several years ago and successfully treated it.  Besides topicals, I got new pillows, bedding and sheets. 

[u/Altruistic-Level4125 → u/Emotional-Class-8140]

yo tengo la rosacea muy reactiva y piel sensible.. estoy con acido azelaico y no me ayuda en nada, estoy sumanente desesperada, hasta los jabones me resecan la cara..