Sulfur as a rosacea treatment ingredient

[JulieBC*]

I just completed a trial for a product that uses sulfur as its main active ingredient. It was specifically advertised as a rosacea treatment product and was sold at a local drugstore. I've had my eye on it for about 10 years and as I was already deciding to switch my skin care products - which means my skin would already be out of balance - I figured I'd use the time to test out the treatment product, as well.

The promise was that it would reduce redness and eruptions on the skin - of which I have both during a flare-up.

I live in Canada and in my part of the country, it has been one hot and humid summer. My skin is definitely reactive, so I welcomed the chance to keep symptoms under control.

I do understand that most rosacea treatment products require a bit of time for your skin to get used to them. Often, things look worse before they get better. For most treatments, my skin is awful for a week or two at the start, regardless of how it responds after that point. However, when it does decide to "accept" a product, it will start to show signs of progress by the third week. That doesn't necessarily mean my skin will be better. It just mean the flare-up will start to ease.

I've seen a lot of YouTubers who have had luck with this particular sulphur rosacea product...unfortunately for me, this was not the case. I didn't even finish the bottle I bought. After just over three weeks of progressively getting worse, I finally gave up. My skin was more irritated than it has been in two years. I've now been off this treatment for 2 days, and my skin has nearly returned to the way it was before getting started. After another couple of days, I'm hoping the damage will all have been repaired.

Trial and error seems to be the name of the game in finding a rosacea treatment. We need to be very patient people. Sixteen years after diagnosis and that's still the biggest struggle for me!