There are too many possibilities to determine what is causing that (e.g. irritation, medication, allergy, fungal, bacterial, dermatitis, etc...), so my advice is go to a dermatologist as soon as possible and have run through your whole routine with the derm, so that the cause of this can be nailed down. I am sorry you are going through this, but your skin does look good in the acne department, so that is a positive.

Thank you for the reply.

I think seeing a derm is the only thing left for me. The only thing is i'm living in France right now and i'd rather see someone in England for obvious reasons. i'm back in England for a week over xmas, but i don't know how the procedure works at a derm? Would I be able to just do a one off visit and get the help there and then or no?

I used to get those in my body (stomach or chest area)..

But mine will vanish with in a couple of hours.

It will b after I finish eating which I think it was an allergic reaction.

Thank you for the reply.

I think seeing a derm is the only thing left for me. The only thing is i'm living in France right now and i'd rather see someone in England for obvious reasons. i'm back in England for a week over xmas, but i don't know how the procedure works at a derm? Would I be able to just do a one off visit and get the help there and then or no?

 

Wow awesome I am heading to France for a week this Wednesday to visit my family, sorry just thought it was a funny coincidence. Im not sure how the procedure goes in England, but worse case scenario you can go to your regular doctor or ER and see what they say it could be or they might be able to refer you for a derm appt faster. As for the appt itself, it really depends on the derm and his/her experience with your condition...the derm can know what it is right off the bat and prescribe something that will take care of it for good or may not know what it is and will give you something that might help it. If it doesnt help then you go back and start from scratch with another treatment. Unfortunately skin issues usually require patience and time on our part :/

Thanks again for replying.

Thing is, knowing me I'll get back home and it wont be as bad, so I think to myself "ok cool, i don't need to go anymore" give it a couple of weeks of something, and bam i've got another massive red mark for no f*cking reason.

I'll think i'll make a visit at least to the doctor while i'm back, to try and get some advice, or maybe a referral.

Also, if anything happens to read this thread, I'd welcome any advice/remedies etc for what I could do. It's been 2 weeks now, and it's only just starting to fade.

I know obviously I should go to the doctors as first port of call, but as I explained previously it won't really be possible for me to go any time soon.

Just to add again (sorry for multiple posts) but is this more hyper-pigmentation or rosacea do people think? it broke out like that after I had spots there but after they'd almost gone.

It's now been 3-4 weeks, and it's always been there like that. Sometimes it looked like it was fading, but still today its just still a solid red mark.

I dont know anything about UK or French health care, but here in the US, I recommend my patients keep a log of food/drink/meds/activities if they are experiencing "random" symptoms.

For example you may find in your log that every time you eat a "tom's bagel shack" you get the rash, or have a certain brand of wine, that you would not have noticed otherwise.

There are a great deal of ingredients and dyes in foods and medications that we don't realize and that may be brand specific. It looks like some kind of an allergy or sensitivity and may get worse with each exposure. From what I understand it can take some time before you can actually get into a dermatologist, so I would keep a log in the meantime, and buy some good concealer. I know you are a guy, but if no one can tell you're wearing make up--who the f- cares!! Hope you figure it out and get some resolution.

Keep us posted, I'm interested now

A spot treatment with copper might help since it constricts blood vessels to reduce redness, but might be irritating and cause other issues. Oatmeal and chamomile are good for reducing redness also.

I've tried to work out if it's any kind of food, but I can't for the life of me work out what. Nothing correlates to anything, things like this just keep happening to me randomly.

I've looked for a concealer, I don't know what i'm looking for though obviously (and it looks pretty weird a guy shopping for make-up, as if I wasn't already conscious enough about myself.)

Over the last 3/4 weeks it's been there, i've tried jojoba oil, ACV, E45 cream, drinking plenty of green tea(like i always do anyway). Absolutely no results with anything.

Feel like i'm just sitting here feeling sorry for myself all the time, but it's getting too much to bare now. This is one problem too far now.

Do they have cosmetic stores where you live? We have some here and if you go in and ask one of the consultants they will help you find the right one. There's no need to be embarrassed. Sort of like going to the doctor, retail consultants literally see it all and there is no possible way you are the wierdest customer.

Sorry there isn't more advice. Maybe look into different supplements to strengthen blood vessels since this looks like a capillary leakage problem, rather than a rash?

drinking plenty of green tea(like i always do anyway).

 

If you are staying with relatives in the UK, go to their GP at the start of the week and fill out a form there saying you are visiting (what I do when home from uni) - ask to be referred to a dermatologist straight away and they might be able to get you to see one that week. I would just take what the derm tells you as accurate for now rather than trying to diagnose online

On the green tea front, cut back on hot teas if you can, another poster explained that redness is happening because of leaky capillaries which is right, they are vasodilated and hot drinks will only aggravate that. Iced green tea is quite nice.

It's just dry skin probably compounded by some opportunistic staph epidermis. Probably caused by drooling in your sleep.

Easy to fix.

1% hydrocortisone + a good moisturiser.

Gone in a week.

I've had a bad red patch on my face as well, except mine had dried dead skin on it. I got so sick of it that I just rubbed it all off. now it's very red and irritated and I've been moisturizing the past couple days. It's weird because it seems like as red mark but I've never had any pimples there. I hope you get everything figured out, your face looks good.

Cool, thanks for the replies guys!

Solar - I'm back in France now unfortunately. I mean, I can still get health care here, but it won't be so simple, and won't be as quick either. Also, thanks for the advice on the tea. To be honest reading that back it sounds so obvious, i just always drank green tea for its antioxidant properties.

13yearsofacne - do you have to get a prescription for hydrocortisone?

twinsfan - is it similar to what mine looks like? I've gotta say, I've never seen anyone with anything like i have right now. And it's always either side of my mouth which for me is probably the worst place for some kind of blemish like this.

Ok, today I bought oatmeal and chamomile lotion water. Could someone suggest some kind of routine as to what i should do? Is it better do use the oatmeal wash in the morning or evening / how often should i be applying chamomile, that kinda thing?

Thank you!

A good face wash to try is cetaphil - I use it and have very very sensitive rosacea skin - it won't irritate your skin while you wait to see the dermatologist.

Cool, thanks for the replies guys!

Solar - I'm back in France now unfortunately. I mean, I can still get health care here, but it won't be so simple, and won't be as quick either. Also, thanks for the advice on the tea. To be honest reading that back it sounds so obvious, i just always drank green tea for its antioxidant properties.

13yearsofacne - do you have to get a prescription for hydrocortisone?

twinsfan - is it similar to what mine looks like? I've gotta say, I've never seen anyone with anything like i have right now. And it's always either side of my mouth which for me is probably the worst place for some kind of blemish like this.

 

z

Mine is a little different but I know what you mean when you say it's embarrassing. now that I recall,I remember having something like that in Jr high. it looked a lot like that and it didn't go away for awhile.I didn't know what to do so time took care of it eventually. probably not the help you're looking for, but good luck anyways!

Have you been using any anti-acne treatments (lately)?

Also, hydrocortisone 1% should be reciept-free

Hey sorry I couldn't reply earlier, been without pc access recently.

I don't have any medication for my acne, and haven't for a while. For when I do get acne I use a recommended toothpaste that works very well, and generally leaves me without marks when the spot has gone.

I've also got eumovate prescribed by my doctor, as when I went last year he said my problem was acne combined with eczema. The ointment works well for what he prescribed it for, but I'm not too sure if it would help for this problem (what i have here doesn't seem to be eczema in my opinion.)

Since last week I've been trying the oatmeal wash daily, and it seems to have slightly helped. I've also been using the chamomile water, and the two combined seem to have helped the redness calm down, but this huge mark is still there somewhat. I'll try to get a recent picture up of how it looks now.

So here it is more than a month on (this is after trying oatmeal and chamomile for the last couple weeks.)

I guess it's got better, but in my opinion this picture does it a bit of justice. To me it still looks horrific.

Guess I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and see a derm/doctor in a foreign country.

I miss having any confidence...

You're lucky that you're in France, the best place in the world for cosmetics and pretty much anything skin related. How well do you speak French? If you speak French alright, I would go into a pharmacy and ask what they recommend. French pharmacies stock many cosmetics as well as medicines. If everything fails, ask your parents or someone here in England to ask your GP for a referral to the dermatologist on your behalf.

Thanks armadillo (liking the name btw). I think I'm almost over the problem. Oatmeal and chamomile have definitely done the trick (been drinking cool chamomile tea, and green tea with lemon too). For the record my french is pretty good

But of course, now that that problem has almost recovered, the spots are back. Swings and roundabouts, c'est la vie...

Hello

I have pretty much THE EXACT SAME THING on my face & TRIED EVERYTHING. Had it for over a year and a half.

It's the most frustrating, confidence draining BS on the planet. Try this, try that. Do this, do that. NOTHING WORKS.

I have a dermatologist appointment tomorrow..I'll report back here with whatever im told it is

Pics of mine @

Thought I'd put some recent pictures of this problem up. Since early december when this happened, it has never completely gone. It flares up overnight, calms down after a week or so of hibernating and treating it. Give it another week and it's back.

Last thursday, it looked good. Friday morning, this:

.

I just don't understand. Completely destroyed my life over the last few months.