Or should that be Red Nose Day?

This afternoon I had a review appointment with my family doctor. Perhaps I imagined his fleeting look of panic as I unfolded an A4 of scribbled notes and started rabbiting on about histamine intolerance and rosacea. He politely declined to prescribe either a sodium cromoglycate nasal spray or an NHS-approved sunscreen but did offer to refer me to a hospital dermatologist. WOO HOO!!

Backtrack a little: this morning my skin seemed ever-so-slightly irritated, so I decided to skip my current L-ascorbic acid serum in favour of a shiny new! ascorbyl glucoside serum. Right away my upper cheeks tingled and developed blotches, heralding a rosacea flush. Little to be done but top with sunscreen and decamp to the oh-so-warm doctor’s waiting area. I try to read It’s Not Just About Wrinkles whilst my nose starts burning: oh the irony.

As it turned out the flush was the absolute best thing that could happen because I scored an unsolicited referral. By the time I was sitting in the doctor’s office my flush had made its usual progression from nose to cheeks – often works its way out to my ears – and I looked clownish. No denying that rosacea intrudes upon the most mundane of situations!

UK rosaceans please share your NHS dermatologist experiences in the comments! Any hints or tips for us newbies?

Jen Justjen

PS. Inexplicably I wrote this post with my third and fourth glasses of white wine … no flushing whatsoever. Then I flushed failing trying to get a Bloglovin’ icon into the pull-out sidebar. What the actual fuck, rosacea?

Image: Bosco the rosacean clown