I wish I could say that ‘poof! It’s gone!’ was my story, but the reality was far from magical. My battle with rosacea involved persistence, trial and error, and a dash of hope. And although this is my story on how I got rid of my rosacea, the sad fact is there is no definitive “cure” known to the medical community and each journey is unique.

But fear not! Armed with the right treatment options and maintenance routine, you can bid farewell to those dreaded rosacea flares and enjoy clearer, calmer skin.

First off, there are 4 types of rosacea. Rosacea treatment isn’t a one-size-fits-all condition. Depending on your medical history and the type of rosacea proned skin you have, you may need different things than I did for your specific issues.

Types of Rosacea
Erythematotelangiectatic Rosacea (vascular rosacea with visible blood vessels)
Papulopustular Rosacea (inflammatory rosacea)
Phymatous Rosacea
Ocular Rosacea

I’ll be mostly talking about the first 2 types since that is what I have experience with in my own skin.

What is rosacea?

On the surface (hehe pun intended), rosacea is facial redness, flushing, often dry skin and acne-like pustules. It’s chronic, mostly on the face, and it flares up similarly to autoimmune diseases. In fact, there is good evidence that rosacea is an autoimmune condition. I prefer to treat rosacea as a malfunction that can be corrected.

This mindset of observing and ‘correcting’ my skin’s reactions for rosacea management became my secret weapon. When you recognize it’s merely your body signaling it’s out of whack, you know bringing back the balance can help solve the issues too. Finding and restoring equilibrium is the key to resolution.

Disclaimer: I’m NOT a doctor, just sharing what works for me. With discipline, it is possible to get rid of rosacea naturally–but it will alter your routine depending on your personal causes. The good news: depending on why you have rosacea, you may not need every step I’ve needed.

Step 1: Know the why’s

Inflammation Flares + Triggers
This is key. There are so many things that cause inflammation in the body. I slowly started to reduce inflammation as I started eliminating and simplifying my routine since avoiding triggers are key to reduce redness.

Here’s the things I added and changed to stop taxing my body so much:

• Air purifier
• Water purifier
• Fragrances (test, don’t assume your skin can handle natural fragrances)
• Anything artificial (food coloring, natural flavors you don’t know)
• Eliminate high histamine foods
• Restore Circadian Rhythm (go outside first thing in the morning+ eliminate blue light at night)
• Reduce endocrine disruptors (such as sugar replacements, commercial dairy, and plastics and microplastics)

Personally, I noticed a decrease with antihistamines and anti-inflammatory meds. I used to treat my symptoms with traditional medicines, but I’ve since switched to supplements (quercetin) and homeopathy.

Just put these little pellets under your tongue to dissolve and you should start seeing a reduction in immune responses. Since high histamine foods, like wine, were a trigger for me, histaminum was the right remedy. Homeopathy works by lining up your symptoms, so, check out this article to see which remedy sound most like you.

I also put an emphasis on clean eating, which basically means I eat whole foods and I stopped buying ingredients I didn’t know about.

If you love sugar, try using this unprocessed sugar instead. Check out the nutritional profile! It still has nutrients intact. I also don’t react to Alexandre Grass-Fed A2 Whole Milk (one of the few milk companies that doesn’t fortify vitamins and therefore doesn’t contain seed oils).

I’ve also observed that chicken and eggs triggered my symptoms. Now, I opt for chicken and eggs sourced from animals that aren’t fed corn in their diet, which was causing inflammation for me due to the omega 6 imbalance.

Other things to consider:

Are you less inflamed after antibiotics?
My mom has rosacea and always healed after antibiotics. This tells me that adding a drop of tea tree oil in a carrier oil or your moisturizer could be helpful.

Also consider colloidal silver. Kenneth Wong’s study states, “Our in vitro and in vivo experimental findings show that nAg are effective at decreasing inflammation in peritoneal adhesions without significant toxic effects.”

Do you suspect or have confirmed the Demodex mite?
One quick way to confirm is to start using sulfur on your skin. 2% Pyrithione zinc soap (the ingredients on this soap are perfection) is a sulfur compound that is known to reduce mites and redness. In fact, even if you don’t have an overpopulation of mites, it could work wonders!

Liver Function
Anytime you have inflammation, be curious! You may have an underlying issue that is only slightly out of balance, but enough to cause some minor issues such as rosacea, dermatitis, acid reflux/GERD, itchy skin, spider veins (if you have prominent veins look into pulsed dye laser treatments), or circulation issues such as Raynauds syndrome. Here are some suggestions for cleansing and supporting your liver:

• Add B complex for liver function (I like this one and this one)
• Morning lemon water (alkaline and liver)
• MSM
• Milk thistle (I like this one)
• Chlorella
• Green tea (drinking green tea regularly will change your biome and more)

Heat and UV Rays
Though heat makes me red easily, I find that my skin calms rather quickly. If you are easily flared by heat, consider not drinking hot beverages, even limiting spicy foods, and never leaving the house without sunscreen on your rosacea.

Worried about Vitamin D? Me too. Dr. Weil recommends getting 15 minutes of unprotected sun daily, but that’s it. I’ve since learned more about circadian rhythms and how it’s important for your eyes and skin to be exposed to the sun first thing in the morning and periodically during the day so it produces the right hormones at the right time with the vitamin D production and light variation.

If you are inside most days or you need to protect your skin from the sun completely, consider this vitamin d cream first thing in the morning. It could make a huge difference in getting your immune system regulating again.

If you smoke (heat in the cheeks), there are links to vascular rosacea.

Stress and Diet
Going back to inflammation, these things make your hormones imbalanced. Which ones? Overall, your endocrine system gets disrupted when you are stressed and inflamed. The more you can reduce in our heavy toxin world, the better. One easy way to achieve this is improved sleep quality through reducing blue light at night (you want this in the morning) and using melatonin.

Have the ability to go barefoot during the day? Grounding shows great effects on the nervous system and for autoimmune diseases.

A couple other things I do to relax in an overwhelming world is to intentionally calm my parasympathetic nervous system at night by taking deep breaths and meditating when I am stressed (1 Peter 5:7). I massage my face, neck and shoulders before bed to relax my face (here’s a great tool).

And like I said above, eating a clean diet of vegetables, meats, fish, grass-fed fats, and low pesticides wherever you can make a big difference.

Step 2: Find your tools

Light Therapy (3-4x a week)
According to Dr. Robert H. Shmerling, speaking to MSN, laser or light treatments offer an effective solution for rosacea. I can honestly say he’s right! Red light therapy for rosacea is a game changer.

Here’s the deal: Office-based red light therapy treatment for rosacea can be an expensive marathon. Picture a 12-session plan, twice a week, all adding up to thousands of dollars. And that’s just the beginning! Because let’s face it, rosacea doesn’t politely wait for office appointments. It flares up whenever it pleases. And the longer you let it go, the worse it seems to get.

Enter the Dermalux–my personal game-changer that’s now a permanent fixture in my skincare arsenal. You need an at-home device to manage rosacea because using products can sometimes make things worse and there are no side effects to this physical facial.

What’s the secret? Near-infrared (830nm) light therapy. This magical wavelength works wonders:

• Reduces Broken Blood Vessels
• Calms Inflammation
• Strengthens Skin (Fortify your defenses with thickened skin and a happy skin barrier).
• Boosts Cell Regeneration: A whopping 200% increase!*

You can check out my comprehensive guide on how to harness the power of red/blue/yellow light therapy here.

Use code VANILLAFLEX to get $200 off the Dermalux panel

IF you’re fortunate enough to not have those pesky rosacea pustules (acne) then the masks could potentially be helpful and more budget-friendly.

Use code VANILLALED for 20% off the Masks.

However, keep your expectations in check with the masks as I needed the Dermalux specifically to isolate the yellow and blue light. Yellow for inflammation, blue for pustules and healing. I avoided red light until the acne-like pustules disappeared.

If this isn’t an affordable option you could combine the mask with nanocurrent (below) and I believe that would be an effective treatment plan.

Nanocurrent (3-4x a week)
Though microcurrent was made famous by Jennifer Aniston, it was the electrical facialist, Melanie Simon, that figured out how to use nanocurrent to tell our cells to produce more collagen. Nanocurrent is 1,000 times smaller than microcurrent and very effective. The ZIIP Halo has a 4-minute app program called “problem skin” that has really helped calm my skin–particularly the acne-like rosacea pustules (check out my before and after). This is a great way to promote cellular turnover and increase collagen production without any products upsetting your skin.

Use VANILLAZIIP for 15% off ZIIP HALO and all ZIIP gels during checkout

Intense Pulsed Light IPL
If you have Type 1, Erythematotelangiectatic Rosacea, I would try intense pulsed light therapy, but as a last resort. Again, I don’t advocate for in-office treatments for things that need to be done regularly and can be done safely at half the price–even the Dermalux will save you money in comparison.

Now let me give credit where it’s due. IPL laser therapy is getting an honorary mention because I tried it to reduce the symptoms of rosacea and it works. Albeit I still needed multiple, expensive, and regular treatments.

So even though this could be a good option, my heart still belongs to the Dermalux.

Step 3: Find Your Products

Gentle Skin Care
With rosacea, less is more! Keep your skincare as simple as possible and fragrance free since rosacea is a tell-tale sign of a compromised skin barrier. I don’t think there’s just one best routine or best moisturizer for rosacea so pay attention to your skin’s reactions.

Any sign of burning should tell you to remove it immediately from your sensitive skin (or sensitized which is more temporary). I want to give you a couple of routines that have worked for me since different ingredients can cause different reactions for each person’s skin type.

Arcona Routine (botanicals, not fragrance)
Kiwi Cream Bar
Triad Pads (for double cleanse)
Cerise+C (If they ever get it back in stock!)
Magic White Ice (contains hyaluronic acid)

BioEffect (no fragrance)
EGF Serum and/or Day Serum

If you’re like me and like a lot of slip, you’ll probably like the Day Serum since it’s a one pump and done system rather than trying to get 3 drops to cover your face…yes, you really only need 3 drops. Problem is it feels so hydrating it’s hard not to waste it and use more.

Versed (no fragrance)

Dew Point Moisturizing Gel Cream

This moisturizer has been pretty healing for me due to the Aloe Vera and Green Tea. I like to combine it with Philosophy’s Vitamin C during the day and sometimes Argan oil when I need a little extra skin hydration.

I also like single oils on days that my skin is really inflamed and tend to use them as a serum for my dry skin. An extra moisture barrier tends to calm my skin.

Castor oil and rosehip oil are great options! Just get them in glass bottles since plastic will leach into oils. Personally I don’t think single oils alone have been great for my skin long term so I would still recommend finding your perfect routine.

If oils are your thing and you have gotten rid of the redness, I also love Potency710’s Gold Serum (if you know you don’t react to essential oils). The formula is so good! You can use the code THEVANILLAPLUM for the member’s pricing.

For skin that needs more…

Colloidal Silver
I sometimes use colloidal silver as a toner for my skin if I need fast “red carpet” relief, but not regularly since I find it drying. It’s also worth exploring colloidal silver eye drops if you have Ocular Rosacea. It’s anti-inflammatory and the results for different skin conditions can be seen even an hour later. “Since using silver to treat skin infections is common, researchers in dermatology frequently resort to silver for treating conditions related to bacterial colonization, such as…acne outbreaks, eczema and rash.” 

Retinyl Propionate
DermaGeek made the right kind of vitamin A for my acne-like issues; I love DermaGeek’s vitamin A and haven’t found a replacement yet now that it’s discontinued. It acts much like retinol but much gentler. Try it and buy it up if you like it! Their cleanser and Night Cream were great as well. This version is not retinol.

Azelaic Acid
Some people find benefits in azelaic acid so I’m listing it. I tried Paula’s Choice and unfortunately it irritated my skin. However, I do not react well to chemical treatments typically. If you find you do well with doxycycline and/or salicylic acid, give Azelaic Acid a go!

Vitamin C
There are only 2 that don’t irritate my skin and I’ve tried quite a few!

Philosophy
This one has zinc, copper, arginine (relaxes blood vessels) and zero fillers. It’s surprisingly calming to my skin. I love that it’s in an easily dissolved powder form so it stays potent.

Arcona
Cerise+C (If they ever get it back in stock!) is very hydrating, brightening, and didn’t irritate my skin.

Mighty Patch Invisible+
If you have inflamed acne-like pustules on your face, these are great for night time . There’s no treatment serum. Just a plain silicone patch that helps prevent your skin from rubbing against your pillow and causing irritation.

There is potential that radio frequency could also be helpful. I’m waiting for a flare to test so stay tuned!

Sunscreen
Sun exposure may increase your Vitamin D, but too much on your face will likely make rosacea worse.

Since I like two birds with one stone, I started looking at my sunscreen zinc as a topical supplement for decreasing my inflammation while I protect my skin. So I consider it important to invest in a product with quality ingredients for daily absorption.

Here are the broad spectrum formulas (UVA and UVB) that have been kind to my skin:

Extreme clean ones I’ve been loving: Sky&Sol (velvety SPF 50 w/no white cast. So good I don’t recommend much else lately), Think Sunscreen Stick (great ingredients, but takes a minute to rub in), Van Man’s Tallow & Zinc (very little white cast, but only 20 SPF)

Tinted Sunscreen: Shaded by Potency710

Invisible Physical Defense by Dermalogica. Both me and my husband use this one because it doesn’t have a white cast. I also like Supergoop’s Mineral Spray.

Post procedure mineral shield by Skinmedica is my mother-in-law’s fav.

Whether you choose to pamper your skin from the inside out or give it some external TLC, let me spill the tea: Dermalux and Ziip Halo are the real MVPs for getting rid of my rosacea. Once they slid into my skincare toolkit, it was like adding a sprinkle of magic. And guess what? Maintenance became a breeze—no complicated skincare needed, just pure glow. So, here’s to radiant skin and tools that make us feel like skincare wizards!

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SPECIAL PRICING FOR TVP READERS!!

Serum: I’ve been using Potency No.710 for years now and finally asked for a special code for you since I think it’s so healing. Just take one look at the before/afters and you’ll see why.
Use code THEVANILLAPLUM at checkout to receive member pricing without the membership fees!

Red Light Therapy: I’m kind of obsessed and once I started using different wavelengths and colors, I basically started a tool collection, which you can read about here. Since tools get very expensive, I am starting to ask for discount codes to make it a little more affordable. If you shop the Currentbody Facemasks or Dermalux, use these codes:

Dermalux: $200 off the Dermalux – use code VANILLAFLEX at checkout

Masks:  20% off discount – use code VANILLALED at checkout

ZIIP Halo Microcurrent: 10% off discount – use code VANILLAZIIP off ZIIP HALO and all ZIIP gels (my favorite gel is the silver one due to my sensitive skin) during checkout

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Let me know if you try these methods below or show me your results with #livingplum on Instagram.

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