I’m 57 & Have Struggled With Rosacea For Years: This IPL Treatment Helped

Award-winning journalist Lorraine Candy felt she had her skincare routine totally figured out but then perimenopause hit and like many women, her complexion changed. Most noticeably, she’d developed the tricky-to-treat skin condition rosacea, which is categorised by red flushing of the cheeks and nose. After struggling for a decade, she recently went to see leading practitioner Dr David Jack for a course of three IPL treatments. The aim: to reduce the appearance of her broken blood vessels and improve her skin’s overall skin quality and tone  – without putting her life on hold. Here’s how she got on… 

My experience with rosacea 

For 30 years I’ve worked in and around the beauty industry and as a former editor-in-chief of glossy magazines ELLE, Cosmo and Sunday Times Style I considered myself a knowledgeable skincare insider, that is until I hit midlife. The hormone storm of perimenopause took me by surprise and my much cared-for but collagen-depleted dermis began to change unexpectedly.

At around 47 (I am 57 now) I developed rosacea, a skin condition for which I discovered there isn’t a cure but one which I now know can be managed and minimised.

It is an inflammatory condition, meaning any rise of inflammation in the body may provoke an outbreak at any stage of life. For women like me in the riot of perimenopause, hormones may have been a trigger or it could be trauma, poor diet or bad gut health; this is what makes it such an unpredictable skin disorder.

Up until last year it didn’t seriously bother me. I covered it up with light foundation (Shiseido’s Revitalessence skin glow foundation SPF 30) but it has been getting redder right in the centre of both my cheeks and as I spend a lot of time on screen for work I see it reflected back at me constantly. I looked clown-like and when my 14-year-old daughter asked what was happening to my face I thought it was time for the big guns and booked an IPL treatment.

Did skincare or lifestyle changes help first?

Reducing inflammation and securing a better level of health will, of course, reduce symptoms of all diseases, so it is always best to address any lifestyle factors contributing to skin health first. I note that every dermatologist I have ever interviewed (and there have been a lot) has told me sleep is crucial for good skin.

I’d already tweaked my cleanse and moisturise routine to manage the redness. I’m an avid sunscreen wearer, I cleanse morning and evening with lukewarm water (avoiding hot water which makes my rosacea more visible). I use QMS Medicosmetics deep gentle cleansing formula, I moisturise with La Roche Posay or Avene SPF products and occasionally add SPF on top. You could also try Invermectin (Solantro) prescribed by your GP for rosacea which is inflamed or the result of Demodex mites (Do Not Google This!) which can irritate skin around the hair follicle.

But here’s the thing: one of the lifestyle changes I made to ensure better health in menopause was to begin open water swimming which means I am outside at least three times a week throughout the year and this exacerbates rosacea. Cold water is invaluable for my mental and physical health so it is non-negotiable but this consistent outdoor sun exposure isn’t helping my rosacea. With that it mind, I knew any treatment for my rosacea wasn’t going to make it completely disappear.

How can IPL help with rosacea 

For those who don’t know, IPL is different from normal laser treatments because it uses various different light waves on the dermis, going to different depths. According to Dr David Jack, an internationally renowned aesthetic doctor, the heat of the varying light waves seals the capillaries just under the skin and they get paler without any fresh blood flow to them, thus minimising their appearance.

But rosacea is a very individual and chronic condition. It varies from person to person and it can be many things: small spots, broken veins, or extreme redness. As a result, it has many treatments. And managing it is a test and learn process.

My IPL treatment at Dr David Jack

My rosacea has broken veins and redness so I had three IPL sessions one month apart at Dr David Jack’s clinic in Harley Street, London with the comforting Izabella Pawlitka. I used Dr Jack’s daily skin products to cleanse and moisturise throughout the process. Izabella also recommended I avoid anti-ageing products while having IPL and go for a nightly retinoid once I had finished treatments.

Each session takes 10-15 minutes. You pop on some goggles, lie down and you need to brace yourself or as Izabella said, “This will feel a little spicy” especially around the nose and forehead. She applied a conducting gel for the IPL and had advised I take a paracetamol beforehand alongside an antihistamine, which you can take again for two nights after the treatment. I am not going to lie, as my teens say, it was pretty painful and each intense pulse is a little like a strong electric shock. It certainly made my eyes water.

What were my results like?

This is not something to do in your lunch hour before a big presentation; my skin was red afterwards and it felt sore, like sunburn, for the afternoon, but was fine the next day.

What I noticed after two weeks following the first treatment was a reduction in the redness, markedly so on my right cheek, and also a reduction in my pigmentation spots on my face which went darker at first then lighter over time. I left a month between each treatment and two weeks after the third one my rosacea had visibly improved. It had not disappeared and while I could have gone back for one more IPL session, I realised that I didn’t fancy going through the pain enough to try this again. I also felt my rosacea was being affected by my time outside as I had my treatments over this recent hot summer, when I swam outside almost every day.

When I chatted with Dr Jack about it he told me that the UV exposure would definitely make my rosacea redder. He also explained that any dramatic change of temperature like cold water was unhelpful for my skin so really I had to balance my need to swim outside and my worries about my skin’s appearance. Dr Jack noted that stress affects skin adversely, too and while I had assumed rosacea was more common in fairer skin, he didn’t think there was enough evidence to support this. Black and brown skin is prone to the condition too, but cannot be treated with IPL –  topical prescriptions would be needed. And when I asked about my daily HRT prescription, he said the hormones often improve midlife skin with rosacea but for some it may not help. As I have said, rosacea is tricky.

Would I recommend IPL for rosacea?

So was it worth it? Yes, for me it was. I am not someone who worries excessively about my skin’s imperfections, but if you’re a fan of super smooth, blemish-free skin IPL will help, but it can’t deliver miracles, especially if you are under any kind of stress. You’ll need to avoid sun exposure, spicy foods and alcohol. Lifestyle has a huge effect on the microbiome so start there, especially with gut health.

Right now I use much less cover-up make-up than I did before the treatment, and I am happy to go out make-up free, which I wasn’t before.

Lumecca IPL costs £450 per session, £1350 for a course of three treatments at Dr David Jack’s London clinic. Find out more about Dr Jack and his clinics in London (including a new space at Liberty London) and Edinburgh on our Practitioner Finder.

Interested in other solutions for rosacea? Head to the TTG rosacea concerns page   to find out more and to the TTG shop for a few Alice-recommended picks.