u/Deep_Owl8658

I have the flushing/burning type of rosacea and my skin can’t tolerate fragrance, niacinamide, or chemical sunscreen. Has anyone with reactive skin actually gotten their flushing under control or into remission? Looking for cleanser/moisturizer/sunscreen recommendations. Right now I use Bioderma micellar oil cleanser(when I wear makeup), CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser, and Vanicream moisturizer — they don’t irritate me, but they’re not helping much either. Thanks!

About 2 years ago, my skin was completely normal and I never really thought about it.

Then one day I was out in the sun wearing sunscreen, and I woke up the next morning with my face extremely red and swollen. It took a while for my skin to calm down after that.

Since then, I’ve realized a few things:

I seem to react badly to chemical sunscreens

I also seem to have a sensitivity to niacinamide

The sunscreen I used when this all started had:

Zinc Oxide 9%

Octinoxate 7.5%

Niacinamide 5%

More recently, I tried patch testing a different sunscreen (on my jaw) with:

Avobenzone 3%

Homosalate 7%

Octisalate 5%

Octocrylene 9%

After being in the sun for ~15 minutes (in winter!), I had a pretty intense reaction:

Redness with small bumps

Hot/tight feeling

Spread across my face (not just where I patch tested)

Got worse over the next day

Niacinamide reactions are milder for me—usually just some redness and puffiness the next morning.

Even though I’ve cut both chemical sunscreen and niacinamide out completely, I still deal with lingering redness and flushing (it’s improved, but not back to how my skin used to be).

My questions:

Does this sound more like an allergy or a sensitivity?

Is it possible to suddenly develop reactions like this out of nowhere?

Could this be something like a damaged skin barrier, rosacea, or photosensitivity?

Has anyone experienced something similar and gotten their skin back to normal?

I feel like my skin completely changed overnight and I’m trying to understand what actually happened.

About 2 years ago, my skin was completely normal and I never really thought about it.

Then one day I was out in the sun wearing sunscreen, and I woke up the next morning with my face extremely red and swollen. It took a while for my skin to calm down after that.

Since then, I’ve realized a few things:

I seem to react badly to chemical sunscreens

I also seem to have a sensitivity to niacinamide

The sunscreen I used when this all started had:

Zinc Oxide 9%

Octinoxate 7.5%

Niacinamide 5%

More recently, I tried patch testing a different sunscreen (on my jaw) with:

Avobenzone 3%

Homosalate 7%

Octisalate 5%

Octocrylene 9%

After being in the sun for ~15 minutes (in winter!), I had a pretty intense reaction:

Redness with small bumps

Hot/tight feeling

Spread across my face (not just where I patch tested)

Got worse over the next day

Niacinamide reactions are milder for me—usually just some redness and puffiness the next morning.

Even though I’ve cut both chemical sunscreen and niacinamide out completely, I still deal with lingering redness and flushing (it’s improved, but not back to how my skin used to be).

My questions:

Does this sound more like an allergy or a sensitivity?

Is it possible to suddenly develop reactions like this out of nowhere?

Could this be something like a damaged skin barrier, rosacea, or photosensitivity?

Has anyone experienced something similar and gotten their skin back to normal?

I feel like my skin completely changed overnight and I’m trying to understand what actually happened.