Re: Previous sun exposure

April 29, 2000

Yes I also had sun exposure. I grew up in S.F. and lived on the beach as a

teenager. Rain or shine we were in our bathing suits till it turned dark. So

we not only had the sun exposure but also wind and salt sea. I also fell

asleep face up in our convertible going to Nevada in the summer heat and got

sun stroke.

I believe that the sun abuse is primarily the cause of my rosacea. They didnt

have suncreens then. As the other person that posted I used baby oil with

iodine for that darker tan. I tanned beautiful all over except my face. It

would burn and peel. I also never used lotions or moisturizers on my face or

body much because I really didnt need to.

I have a younger sister that spent the same amount of time on the beach with

me and she has no signs of getting rosacea. She also has more of an olive

skin tone where mine is fair and rosey.

The only thing that triggers my rosacea now is the heat. I can pretty much do

anything else (eating etc.) I do have to be careful on what products I use on

my face now. I do have very dry skin now too. I am also diabetic so I dont

know if the dry skin is from the rosacea or the diabetes. Once in a while if

I am in the wind my eyes get dry and I have to use drops.

Hope this helps your survey.

Bobbye

April 29, 2000

Hi ,

I have always been a blonde-haired, green-eyed, fair-skinned person, and YES,

I have had more than my fair share of sunburns in my 36 years.

When I was a kid, no one was really educated about sunscreens, so I always

ran around the summers (even in NYS) with a burn over all of my body. As a

teen I would bask in the sun despite the warnings from my mother. Boy, do I

wish I would have listened to her now!!! I think at that age I didn't

realize my skin could/would ever change. I gave up sunbathing, when in my

late 20's , I worked in South Florida and saw the skin of the women my same

age looking ten years older. I haven't had prolonged sun exposure now in 7

or 8 years and I don't plan on ever doing it again.

Beth

April 29, 2000

I didn't get much sun exposure until my late teens, at which time I

succumbed to the peer pressure that nothing was worse than being pale.

Between the ages of 17 and 20 I got some pretty bad burns on my face. I

tanned very slowly, so a nice, evenly sun-burned face was instant

gratification (as opposed to my current unevenly red face). It was the end

of summer, during the year in which I turned twenty, that I first became

aware that something was wrong, for that was when I noticed the first

indication of the uneven complexion that I would have to live with. At

first I thought I was just unevenly tanned, for some reason, as it didn't

seem as obviously red as it does today. So I tried to even it out. After

one episode of attempting this however, something changed. I received what

at first appeared to be just another burn, except this time the redness

didn't fade after a few days. This time the redness was very obvious, and

it's been with me ever since. It was also at that same time that the

burning sensation began. I've always suspected that my sun-burn years were

the key factor to my developing rosacea, and I've always wondered what my

life would be like today, had I never experimented with sun tanning. An

even bigger mystery though, is what was so horribly wrong with being pale?

At 12:58 PM 04/29/2000 +0000, you wrote:

>Group,

>

>I am curious how many of the rosacea-sufferers of the group have had

>a history of excess sun exposure during their earlier years, as well

>as frequent sunburns/ " sun poisoning " . I tend to believe that

>rosacea develops earlier and is more prominent in these individuals.

>Sun-induced damage to the capillaries and connective tissue may be

>one of initiators of the vascular leakage and hypersensitivity which

>accompany rosacea. I experienced severe sunburning as a child and

>again during late teenage years while beach lifeguarding several

>summers in a row. At the end of this stent, at age 20, I had already

>had the development of telangiectasias on my face. Since that time

>my sun exposure has been normalized, however, the cascade of events

>has continued with worsening rosacea symptoms until recently being

>treated. Have others had this same history of over-indulgence of the

>sun and have developed rosacea??? (Those who continue to use tanning

>salons despite their diagnosis of rosacea need not answer as the

>answer in those cases is obvious)

>

> M Burock, MD

>

>--------------------------------------------------------

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>

>When replying, please delete all text at the end of your email that isn't

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>

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April 29, 2000

Definitely, I have a history of excess sun exposure, primarily during

my teens and twenties. As someone else mentioned, my mother also told

me that I looked " healthy " with a deep tan. I didn't feel like I'd

" gotten any color " unless I had very pink cheeks at the end of a day

by the pool. The pink (actually, more like red) would turn to tan

over a couple of days. Also, my entire face peeled several times

(evidence of a pretty intense burn). Still, I persisted in tanning

for that " healthy " look. My dermatologist told me that excessive sun

exposure was the most important " predictor " of me developing rosacea,

above all other factors, including my age, Celtic background, fair

skin and light eyes.

The perception that a person with a tan looks healthier is so strong

in our society -- it makes it very difficult to NOT tan (or use a self

tanner, which I refuse to do because they always look orangeish to

me). People stare at and comment about others exposing their white

legs in shorts or in a swimsuit. My mother still persists in pushing

me to get a tan, too. Just last summer, she told me that I looked

like a ghost (I was wearing shorts at the time) and said I'd " better

get some sun. " She knows that sun exposure is bad in general, and bad

in particular for rosaceans but she still urges me to get " some

color. " And I do admit, the learned desire to have a tan body is hard

to resist....I suspect that if I didn't have rosacea I might still get

a little tan in the summer.