Retail worker India Kelly first became aware she had sensitive skin when she was a teenager and also flushed easily, prompting many to think she was shy.
In fact her symptoms were an early sign of rosacea but it was not until she was in her 20s and at university that she discovered the full force of the crippling skin condition.
Her face erupted overnight into what she described as a ‘red hot mess’ and said when she ran her fingers over her skin ‘it felt like brail’.
Alarmed, Miss Kelly visited her GP who did not even consider it could be rosacea because of her age. The skin condition normally occurs in those who are in their 50s. Miss Kelly was told she had acne and put on the contraceptive pill to try and clear it up.
However Miss Kelly’s condition only continued to get worse and she eventually visited a second GP who knew instantly what was wrong.
Said Miss Kelly: ‘I was shocked when she immediately diagnosed me with rosacea. She said I was the youngest person she had seen with the condition.’
The treatment Miss Kelly was prescribed did little to help and she found herself reduced to tears on a daily basis, behaving like a recluse and in too much pain to raise a smile.
Eventually Miss Kelly from Chelmsford, Essex, who is now 24, discovered a Kalme cream made of capers, the edible buds of flowers. Within days she found her skin was calmer and a few months later it was almost flawless.
India Kelly, 24, thought she had acne until her face ‘erupted’, first into a terrible blotchy redness, and then small mounds that appeared all on her face
India, from Chelmsford in Essex, said she had always had sensitive skin, and used to flush very easily, which made her friends think that she was shy
‘My skin literally started erupting’
‘The flushing was annoying [when she was a teenager], but it didn’t affect me too much, I just got used to it,’ said Miss Kelly, unaware at the time that it was an early symptom of rosacea.
She said: ‘However later on my skin literally started erupting. At first it was only the redness. Each morning I’d wake up look at my face in the mirror and it was red, like I was sunburned.
‘I had just started university so obviously I was drinking more and not eating the best diet, but no more than anyone else was. Yet my face looked like I was permanently tipsy.’
She thought her lifestyle may be to blame, and so cut out alcohol and started eating more healthily. But things only went from bad to worse for her skin.
She went to the doctor and was prescribed the contraceptive pill in order to clear up the symptoms, when it was thought she probably had acne.
‘First it was the redness and then it was the bumps. When I ran my fingers over my skin it felt like brail, it had small raised painful bumps everywhere under the surface.’
India began doing all the treatments she knew were supposed to clean up acne: she scrubbed her face everyday with anti-bacterial washes and religiously applied lotions that were designed to reduce acne.
‘I also read that the sun can help dry up acne, so I’d put my face out in the sun whenever I could,’ she said.
‘After an afternoon in the sun my skin became literally florescent, it would take days to calm down. I later learned that sun it literally the worst thing ever for rosacea.’
Next her face became incredibly dry, ‘like a crisp’. It was flaking off in places. Yet on the backs on medicine packages she read ‘for greasy skin’. ‘I felt I had quite the opposite,’ she said.
‘I was shocked when she immediately diagnosed me with rosacea’
Having had enough and finding it increasingly stressful, India went to the doctors a second time – and was thankfully referred to a different person.
‘By this stage I was very distraught about the state of my skin. Not only was it red, bumpy and dry it was also very sore, it hurt to even smile.
‘I was shocked when she immediately diagnosed me with rosacea. She said I was the youngest person she had seen with the condition but that I had all the classic symptoms.’
India said she was intimidated by the idea of having a lifelong skin condition, but was more hopeful now the problem had name – incorrectly, as it turned out.
‘Although I was really upset that I had such a serious skin condition, which I was told was incurable, it was a relief when I was prescribed a gel for it. All I wanted by this stage was something that just calmed my skin down as it was ruining my life.’
‘However, the gel burned so much when I put it on I cried. It was agony. By this stage most products I put on my face burned, but the skin gel felt like acid on my skin. I just couldn’t face using it.
After multiple trips to the doctor which did nothing to alleviate her condition, she discovered a cream made of capers, the edible buds of flowers, that immediately cleared her face
‘I know I’ll always have rosacea and that I’ll need to manage it every day, but I feel I have got control back over my skin. It’s a complete relief as I didn’t know how I was going to cope with my skin as it was,’ she says
‘I was spending all my spare money on skin treatments’
She decided to take matters into her own hands. ‘I’d lost all confidence in being prescribed stuff that simply didn’t work, so I started researching everything for rosacea myself.
‘I ran through all the brands who made products for red and sensitive skin. I discovered that products for rosacea are typically very expensive and the ones I tried were almost 100% ineffective and almost all of them stung when I used them. I felt at my wits end.
‘I was spending all my spare money on skin treatments and my skin simply would not calm down.
The stress of being unable to find a treatment had become unbearable.
‘I was supposed to be having the time of my life at university yet I was not even able to drink one glass of wine without my skin going crazy. I felt like a freak and became something of a recluse.
‘A lot of days I didn’t even want to leave my room as I was so depressed about my skin.
‘I was in tears daily when I’d try and cover up the bumps and redness with makeup and within an hour it would all have slid off and my skin would be a red hot mess.
‘Friends tried to be sympathetic and would suggest I cut so and so out of my diet or that I try this or that product or for bad skin.
‘I got tired of explaining that it was not simply ‘bad skin’ but an incurable skin condition.
‘I know they were trying to help but I hated the fact everyone was talking about my skin, I felt everyone around me was aware of it.
‘When I went home from university for holidays the first thing my family would comment on was my skin. When you have bad skin, everyone assumes you are unhealthy or a party girl. The truth was I had barely been out.
‘Within a month of daily use my skin had transformed’
Her main ‘hobby’ had become reading blogs from people with rosacea, and it was while on one of these that she came across Kalme products.
A women who had tried them described symptoms that were identical to India’s, as well as the products she had previously tried. She was of a similar age as well, which of course is unusual for rosacea sufferers.
The female blogger had found Kalme products, who’s main ingredient is an extract from capers, had been the only thing that had calmed her skin down.
‘I looked the products up and they were cheaper than most and had a lot of very positive reviews,’ says India. ‘I also found a lot of other blogs recommending them, so I decided to try them.
‘It was by far the best money I’ve ever spent. Within two weeks my skin was visibly improved. The redness was calmed, and most importantly the soreness of my skin had eased. It took a bit longer for the bumps to go, but they did go eventually.
‘Within a month of daily use my skin had transformed. I can now wear make up again without it stinging but Kalme make a genius treatment concealer so I mostly use that.
‘I generally avoid using any other products on my skin except Kalme, plus a bit of eye makeup.
‘My skin looks normal now. When I’m wearing the concealer, you really wouldn’t know I have rosacea most days. I still get small flare ups but within a few days they have gone down, my face is no longer permanently red and bumpy as it was before.
‘I know I’ll always have rosacea and that I’ll need to manage it every day, but I feel I have got control back over my skin. It’s a complete relief as I didn’t know how I was going to cope with my skin as it was.’
WHAT IS A POSSIBLE TREATMENT FOR ROSACEA?
KALME contains a patented extract of capers that helps combat the symptoms of rosacea
For complexions prone to redness, dryness and sensitivity, finding a suitable skincare regime that addresses these symptoms, but won’t inflame sensitive skinis difficult.
KALME contains a patented extract of capers that helps combat the symptoms of rosacea.
The KALME skincare range is said to help combat and conceal ruddiness and sensitivity through protection from UV damage, moisturisation, skin repairing prebiotics and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action.
KALME products notably contain a caper extract called Derma Sensitive, which reduced skin redness and sensitivity by up to 70 per cent in clinical trials.