My dermatologist precsribed me metrogel too.Although,I'm not sure I really had roseaca as much I had pimples. Either way,my face has been clear since I started using it a year ago.

I impressed her the most with a tube of La Roche Posay that contains Helioplex. It is expensive and hard to find here in the US but a friend gets it for me in Europe or through Canada for what a normal tube of sunscreen cost. The Dr said that she only knows of one clinic in Washington DC that carries it for $75 a tube (I seriously doubt that). They have a website with all of their skin products and I have to say that everything they claim seems to be true in my case. I doubt the science of their hype, I mean I think their stuff works but not for the reasons they promote. I think they truly have found some sort of balance in the chemicals they include in their potions that make them out-perform other products. They attribute it all on some very special natural spring water. Locally, you can find Nutrogena sunscreens with Helioplex in spf ratings as high as 75 or 80 for around $10 to $12 per tube. It works very well for me but I like the feel of La Roche Posay better.

My DH had Rosacea for years. It was so bad I wouldn't let him wear red, even at Christmas. It just brought out the red in his face even more. He tried antibiotics and the Metro-gel and limited his drinking, spicy foods and time in the sun. Nothing worked. About 12 years ago we vacationed in Hawaii on the big island. We were walking around an outdoor market when we hear a woman say "I can help you sir" ... there was no one else around so she must have been talking to us so we walked over to her and asked her what she was talking about. She points to my DH and says, I can make the red go away. We were *really* skeptical but decided to take a look at what she was selling. It was a product made in Hawaii called Kukui Nut Oil and she was selling several different sizes. We bought a small bottle of it for $7 and figured it was worth a try. When get got back home DH started using it and after years of Rosacea, it cleared up completely. He only used it for about a year and it's stayed away except when he drinks a little too much. It's tough for him to stay out of the sun as he's a tennis coach so even that really hasn't brought it back on. Of course I doubt it would do anything for ocular rosacea but it's certainly worth a try for the face. You can buy it on Amazon and other places online or if you have a Hilo Hattie's Hawaiian store in your area, they carry it. Jodi-

I will tell you a true story. This happened to my husband, not a friend of a friend's cousin's sister's next door neighbor. :-) My husband (a fair skinned man of British decent) had a bad case of Rosacea about 30 years ago. So bad I wouldn't let him wear red because it just made his face and head (he's bald) look so much worse. He saw a dermatologist for years. And tried all the typical treatments; internal (antibiotics) and topical treatments (Metrogel, antibiotics, cortisone, etc.). He used sunscreens, stayed out of the sun (he's a tennis player/coach so that was a tough one), stopped eating spicy foods, drinking alcohol, etc. , etc. Nothing helped. Not even a little. In 1994 we took a trip to Hawaii. We were strolling through a small open air market filled with food, health and art vendors. This one gal was selling bottles of Kukui Nut oil. We strolled by, ignoring the products since anything with oils seemed like a bad idea. As we pass the booth, we hear a woman say "I can help you with your Rosacea." She said it so softly we barely heard her, so she repeated the claim. We back peddled and stopped to see if she was using target marketing on my husband. I felt badly for hubby being called out in publicly like that but hey, if this woman's claim was true, I wanted to hear more. She again said that her product (pure kukui nut oil) would indeed help my husband. It was $8 for a small bottle which wasn't that big of a deal even back in '94 so we bought a bottle and continued on with our vacation. After vacation, hubby started using the oil every day for a month or so and before you knew it, his Rosacea was gone ... all gone ... nothing left. He eats normally, drinks socially, and still coaches tennis. And, he now has an assortment of red shirts in his closet. Can't promise anyone else this will work for you but hey, it's worth a try. Jodi-