Severe Rosacea flare BBL/Moxi induced - what worked for me

Hi team, I’ve always has mild rosacea exacerbated by the normal triggers (wine, hot shower, bad sunburn, etc.) but nothing even close to the flare I had this week after getting BBL/Moxi to…. treat my rosacea. 🫠

Anyways! I spiraled into the abyss because I was so sad and uncomfortable and wanted to share here what worked for me based on a million internet searches and mostly Reddit/my dermatologist.

I got the laser treatment on Saturday, and by the Tuesday I was in so much pain day and night I could barely take care of my kids (I’m a stay at home mom to 1 and 3 year old boys). I didn’t sleep for five straight days except when I took a lorazepam (which I have for flying) because all night I just felt my skin crawling, tingling, bugs, burning, etc. the first photo is Tuesday. The only thing that took the edge of the crawling was putting milk of magnesia which I think is a liquid you drink for upset stomachs 🤷🏼‍♀️ on my hot spots. This was the only way I could sleep.

Finally on Friday I went to CVS and bought .5% Ivermectin Lice Shampoo and put that on my hot spots, I felt instant relief and felt the little demodex effers popping and dying a horrible death thank you Lord. The second picture is 24 hours after starting the Ivermectin shampoo topically. I also saw my derm on Friday who prescribed me doxycycline 100 for 3 weeks and a Rosacea Triple Cream lotion that has ivermectin, azeliac acid and Metronidazole but as of this typing I don’t have it yet, just the lice shampoo 😂

Today is Saturday night and I am just LEAPS and bounds better and wish I started the ivermectin a week earlier. So those two photos are like 72 hours apart. It saved my whole life, I was honestly borderline depressed at how uncomfortable my face felt and now I feel mostly fine - just the Iver OOC 48 hours and doxy 24 hrs. My derm also suggested Allegra in the am and Zyrtec in the pm during the flare.

I can’t recommend trying that lice shampoo hack enough for anyone who is struggling with painful “crawling” rosacea. I’ll prob do an update in a week or two but otherwise feeling cured! Good luck everyone ❤️