Research has shown that 75% of rosacea and acne sufferers have reported psychological effects such as lowered self-esteem and self-confidence that lead to a reduced quality of life.

As a former rosacea sufferer for 27 years, I can deeply relate to this statistic which has led me to write this article from personal experience. I also stress the importance of seeking medical advice if you feel your are suffering from psychological effects that you feel you can not manage.

My rosacea symptoms started at the beginning of the 1980′s when I was in my late teens. It began with a light redness in the cheeks that became more intense as the day progressed. At first I thought I had contracted some sort of viral infection and tried to forget about it.

However, after several weeks I continued to suffer from frequent flushing, which then lead to a permanent red complexion. At that time little was known about rosacea and the symptoms were considered to be a form of acne and were treated as such with sulfur based remedies.

My doctor even recommended hot baths to relieve the symptoms; little did they know that these remedies actually made the condition worse, After a while I became very self-conscious of my appearance and had to endure the daily jokes such as: “Don’t stand on street corners you might stop the traffic” or “Are you sun burnt again?”

Even social occasions or nights down the pub with my friends became a challenging event, as I continually found myself searching for the darkest corners to hide my flushed face. Back in the 80′s there was no Internet so the only source of trying to find a suitable remedy was through books in the local library, a quest that proved to be hopeless.

The years passed by and my condition neither worsened or improved, but thread like blood vessels were now visible on my cheeks – which people wrongly presumed to be a result of heavy drinking. Then in 1999 I experienced Internet for the first time, and to my delight through AltaVista, I discovered a rosacea remedy based on vitamin k. This was apparently used by plastic surgeons to quicken the healing process of plastic surgery. I eagerly applied the créme as per the instructions and checked my face at least 20 times per day, every day to see if there was any sign of improvement.

After about 8 weeks my redness had not subsided but to my delight, I did notice that some of the blood vessels had disappeared. However, my excitement quickly turned to misery when blisters started appearing on my cheeks which was a side effect of this créme on sensitive skin; so I had to stop this treatment. I once again scoured Internet for other suitable remedies and tried most of them which cost a lot of time and money; but none of them worked. My disillusionment grew and my self confidence diminished as the depression caused by my rosacea condition began to take hold. I could no longer hold eye contact with people feeling inadequate, especially at social occasions – little did I know that I was developing symptoms of social phobia.

The Rosacea Treatment Had Worked But I Failed To Notice

A few years ago through a skin problem forum, I eventually found a rosacea solution which was recommended by one of the forum users. I purchased and applied this treatment expecting the same ineffectual results as with the others I had tried. After several weeks my pessimism was confirmed when I could see no difference to my red complexion in the mirror.

My social phobia symptoms had now reached their peak, I was suffering from deep anxiety as well as frequent panic attacks. My doctor recommended that I seek psychological advice treatment and cognitive therapy at my local hospital, which I did. I was prescribed an anti-depressive drug to alleviate the psychological symptoms of anxiety. My cognitive therapist looked at me skeptically as I described my skin problems and the emotional impact they had on my life caused me to end up here.

My cognitive therapist then used the symptoms of Anorexia as a reverse analogy. At first I did not have a clue what she was going on about, but then the light suddenly switched on and the reason for this analogy became clear. My long term rosacea condition had caused such deep rooted emotional scars that it prevented me from seeing that my facial redness was actually no longer very prominent.

Within a short while after my first therapy session, I could finally see that she was right – my face was in reality no longer flushed, the rosacea treatment had unbelievably worked. My self-confidence and self-esteem grew quickly as my social phobia symptoms quickly diminished – ‘A Feel Good Factor’ had returned a feeling that I thought I would never feel again.

Though their treatments are far from cheap, a growing number of us are signing up for novel therapies, particularly Intense Pulsed Light (IPL), or Photo Rejuvenation, as it’s more commonly known. Developed in hospitals where treatment was originally given under the guidance of physicians, independent salons registered with the Healthcare Commission (England’s healthcare watchdog) are now able to charge between £50-£200 a session, delivering intense bursts of red or blue light directly to the skin.

IPL promises a panoply of benefits: from hair removal to the eradication of rosacea and the blitzing of spider veins, from improved skin texture and pigmentation to the banishing of fine lines and wrinkles; even an end to acne and a reversal of some of the signs of sun damage. Several treatments are usually recommended, so IPL could represent quite a significant investment, but despite the credit crunch there appears to be no shortage of customers.

I decided to give it a go. The promise of regained youth was not high on my agenda. Instead, my aim was to get rid of some small broken veins on my face and chest.

Descriptions of the IPL process and its possible side-effects are fairly standard across all practitioners. Typically, we are told that it feels like a mild “pinging” on the skin and that there may be “warm tingling sensations”. Which all sounds rather lovely. Generally, we are told that it can feel like an elastic band snapped on the skin, but that discomfort is “momentary” and occasional small bruises will vanish with the application of arnica cream. More to the point, “downtime” is brushed aside: most claim that IPL can be undertaken in a lunch hour, and that your colleagues will be none the wiser.

Let me take the rose-tinted specs from your eyes. My hour-long process to fix a handful of spider-veins was as painful as childbirth. Rather than “mild warmth” I felt I was descending into the seventh circle of hell and, afterwards, as if I had gone sunbathing on Bondi Beach with a bottle of baby oil. The burning sensation lasted a good 12 hours, mitigated only by endless packs of frozen peas. But it’s not just a question of pain thresholds. Who knows? Perhaps mine is lower than average.

More to the point, my face swelled to almost twice its size and stayed that way for the best part of a week, despite doses of antihistamine.

The last of several livid purple bruises faded two weeks later. Most irritating of all, despite having exactly the kind of fair skin that apparently responds best to the treatment, no one I know can see any improvement at all. It seems that I might as well have chucked 200 quid down the gurgler.

Now, I’ve talked to women who swear they found IPL painless, and to others who loathed it (one said she cried throughout each of her hour-long sessions) but who are evangelical about the results. They go back time after time. Equally, it is not hard to find others who would ”rather be tortured by the Gestapo” than endure it again and who, like me, were unconvinced.

Whether or not my experience was extreme, we should remember that practitioners require no medical qualifications and that the Healthcare Commission relies on clinic self-assessment, inspecting on average only once every five years. Reactions to IPL will vary according to skin type, but the majority of providers – when asking for your “informed consent” – play down both the discomfort and the potentially debilitating side-effects. Ask for a patch-test before embarking on the treatment. Either that, or plan to live in a cupboard for up to a week post-consultation, just in case.

Light therapy looks set to be a long-term trend, though the jury is still out on whether this is a miracle cure or a waste of cash. It’s certainly not for me. In fact, I’ve learned a valuable lesson: there is such a thing as a deal of pain for absolutely no gain at all.

By Kate Colquhoun

23 Mar 2009 Telegraph.co.uk