Hi - I'm trying to self-diagnose here  based on my skin's reaction to different prescription meds.  Maybe someone can help me out since the derm I went to didn't have much guidance to offer and said I don't have a skin condition, although a previous derm said I did and other doctors have said maybe.

When I use metrolotion, my skin actually looks worse than when I don't use it.  I do have some redness, but it doesn't resond to the metrolotion - it actually burns a bit and I get even more red in general.  When I wake up in the morning, my skin looks worse than it did the night before.

Retin-a actually makes redness go away.  However, I get pretty sensitive after using it for a few days in a row and I can't find a good sunscreen I can tolerate.  However, when I wake up the next morning after using retin-a, my skin looks smooth, less red, and the red "patches" on my cheeks are much improved.

Last night I did a very scary thing -  :o - I did short contact therapy using Tazorac 0.1% gel.  I put it on, waited exactly 2 minutes using the kitchen timer, then rinsed it off.  Then, since I thought I should moisturize, I put on some rich, mineral oil containing moisturizer, in addition to metrolotion.  Within about an hour, my skin looked red and terrible!  So I washed all of that off with a tea tree oil cleanser I have, used some tea tree oil ointment on my red spots and let my skin breathe.  When I woke up this morning, my skin looks GREAT!

So basically, I'm thinking this sounds like seb derm.  Because using something like retin-a, salicylic acid, taz w/short contact therapy dramatically improves my skin's appearance.  However, my skin is super sensitive and prone to intense irritation from products, so I have to be very careful.  I do have some broken vessels on my cheeks, but they could be from sun damage and not necessarily rosacea.  I don't really flush - my skin feels hot every now and again, but I don't have any triggers to speak of that make me flush.

Any thoughts based on the above?  If you read all this, bless you, since I realize it's a bit long-winded!

Beth