Rosacea Books

I really liked this book. The author is both a doctor and has/had severe rosacea himself. I believe this caused him to dig deeper than most. He explores many different routes from the latest medical treatments available, to practical products to use at home, to advice to help minimize flareups. Great book and a must for all who have true rosacea!

I have found this book very helpful indeed and many of my patients have found it invaluable as a reference text. Geoffrey Nase's contribution to the Acne Rosacea knowledge base is impressive. I ended up buying a second copy because my first one was well worn and frequently loaned out.

Dr Peter Crouch

This book provides a very expansive look at rosacea, complete with medical references and chapters on what treatments are availabale, and what those treatments are effective on. After reading this book, I have come to realize that many doctors, including dermatologist, have no idea how to really treat rosacea. If you have rosacea, and you want to fight it, you really need the information presented in this book. I can not recommend this book highly enough, it is simply a must have for every rosacea sufferer.

Rosacea had been making my life miserable for the past five years. My depression over the disease was literally ruining my life. A fellow rosacean suggested this book to me after she found it so helpful. I have been following the suggestions in the book for a little over a month now. There is no doubt that my skin has begun to dramatically improve. I hope the author reads these reviews, because I want her to know how thankful I am to her. If you have rosacea, get this book. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I just received this book, and already I like it! It has a lot of information about rosacea, about treatment, and ways I can do something about it. Most of this is new information to me. Beginning with an exact description of my experience in being diagnosed (down to the two pamphlets and vagueness), I found a lot to think about and to be surprised and comforted by.

This is a gentle book. It makes very gentle claims about the broad applicability of what it has to say. The book could be summarised in one sentence. "We believe that eating right, taking appropriate supplements, and optimising your digestive system can improve your rosacea, not to mention your overall health."

The book starts off talking about the author's discovery and subsequent distress at having rosacea. She went first for the traditional dermatologist directed treatment path. For a naturopath this is an honest admission - that she firstly thought that she need to consult mainstream medicine to `get rid of it'. Becoming disappointed with the results she then turned to her background.

The introduction section follows the theme of the book - lots of gently stated facts about rosacea. The treatment section mentions the regulation treatments and then talks about naturopathy and homeopathy. The much loved ZincO even gets a mention.

I'm not a fan of trying to control one's rosacea by avoiding known triggers. This comes from a desire to be rid of the disease by not giving in and changing your life dramatically. Thus, the seemingly obligatory section on triggers and stress doesn't really help. Next, is a short section on makeup and lasers.

The remainder of the book deals with nutrition for your skin. As well as dealing with supplements, the book asks us to forget the `food pyramid' and embrace the `food wheel'. The section on Fats and Oils is particularly detailed. This is the highlight of the book for me, information about for eg. borage oil and flax seed oil. These are often talked about in the Rosacea Support Group, especially in regards to ocular rosacea.

The book finishes with some discussions about the psychology of your face, asking us to remember that we are not `just our face'. This is good advice especially for us that obsess about our appearance.

Approaching the disease from the nutritional side, this book is one of the better introductory rosacea texts.

...

I reviewed this book and gave it a poor rating a few months ago, and now I find that the review has disappeared.

Here is the problem with this book in a nutshell: WAY too much data that is also very poorly presented, especially if you are a new sufferer of this condition. Perhaps a long-time sufferer of rosacea could pick through this helter-skelter mosaic and find some grains of wisdom, but the newbie like me will probably be overwhelmed and fall into despair. Fairly disorganized in general, there is too much anecdotal information with far too many contradictions in the medical sections (particularly the parts about acid balance in the diet). You're just dropkicked into various technical sections without any handholding and then thrown to the wolves of information overload.

When I was first diagnosed with rosacea, I needed some simple guidelines. I was depressed, felt like Mother Nature had screwed me over, and needed some positive steps to move forward immediately. Do yourself a favor and visit rosacea-dot-org or some other website that offers clearer, more direct guidelines on health, medicine, and other regimens so that your skin can start to look and feel better right away. That's what I did. It's free. After three months of treatment and some dietary adjustments, my face looks much better!

I don't know what School of Natural Medicine Arlen Brownstein went to but she does not treat the body wholistically nor does she believe in the basic tenet of naturopathy which is that the body can heal itself through natural means. She is clearly neurotic about her skin and has not put her education to practical use in her own life. It's sad but if you think you're going to buy a book from a wholistic perspective you will be disappointed. The first thing she states is that hers is an incurable illness. This is hypocritical coming from someone using N.D. Naturopathic Doctor as her title. She should more appropriately call herself an amateur dermatologist without education or medical degree. The book is not holistic and it is not healing. I recommend the Rosacea Diet instead. This author is holistically oriented though he doesn't have an n.d. after his name. I used the paleolithic diet from one of the websites he mentioned and cured my rosacea. It is not an incurable illness. If you have that belief then that is what will be for you, as that is what is for her.

I have type 2 and 3 rosacea and read this book. I used the recommendations faithfully for only three weeks, because that is as long as I could stand my symptoms getting worse and worse. My lesions got bigger, and more itchy and weepy. I also had many other bad effects from the recommended diet, such as near constant gastrointestinal distress, headaches, skin problems starting to appear on my elbows, and the worst bout of PMS in years. That was some time ago.

The diet that has worked the best for me for my skin, with no bad side effects, was to reduce animal proteins in general, eliminate all dairy protein, and eat more fruits and vegetables and "plain" foods. My diet is now high in carbohydrates -- but low in processed foods and white flour. It is low in fat by American standards. This is pretty much opposite of what Brady Barrows prescribes. And none of this took "iron willpower" -- after a few weeks of avoiding the trigger foods, I no longer wanted them.

I have had only a small area of type 1 rosacea on one cheek now for over two years, and when I eat even better (practically eliminating white flour and animal foods, which I sometimes do for short periods), my one remaining lesion gets smoother. If I eat a lot of fatty foods or eggs/lean meat it tends to flare up. Caffeine has also been a trigger for me, so I limit myself to one or two cups of coffee a day and drink only caffeine-free sodas. I still take the precautions I always have, like protecting my face from hot shower water, steam from drinks, or cold air.

Some people have fruit and vegetable triggers, but I haven't found one yet. I thought I had a vegetable trigger because if I ate a lot of salads or broccoli it seemed to make my lesions break out more. However I finally discovered it was the dairy based dressings and cheese toppings that were probably doing it. I don't use those any more and have no problem with any vegetables, no matter how much I have.

Everyone is different. Try lots of different approaches, but give each one a good honest, 100% try for at least a week or two. If you go half-measures or "cheat" or don't try for long enough you won't really know. It is very much worth it when you find the right mix for you.

I got a few good concepts out of what I read. However, everyone doesn't have the same triggers, and I don't believe that this diet is a universal method to control rosacea. He did point out some good concepts though, and since I have browsed through the book, my own rosacea is more under control.

It frustrates me to see several reviews from people who read Rosacea Diet and dismissed it without even trying it. How can you review something you "didn't have the willpower" to try or something you just didn't want to do (i.e. Give up sugar)? Comparisons to the Atkins diet are bound to occur, despite the fact that Rosacea Diet is very different in that it allows NO sugar and FAR fewer carbs than the Atkins plan. I'm trying Rosacea Diet now and have seen drastic improvement in just 5 days. When you get past the first few days of adjustment and get over the fact that you can't eat sugar or grains, it's not that hard. I don't have any desire to eat sugar and I previously consumed large quantities of it. You focus on what you can eat and you eat only those foods. There's nothing hard about it...it has actually greatly simplified my life to have the enormous number of food choices taken away. This book has opened my eyes to the fact that sugar lurks in much of the food we normally consume, even products that claim to be "sugar free." I HIGHLY recommend purchasing Rosacea Diet. The book is giving me the power to conquer rosacea without spending thousands on doctor visits and prescription treatments that don't work.

Brady Barrow's rosacea diet has been around for a couple of years now. If you ever wanted to know what it was all about then hopefully this text will be of interest. So what do you actually get when you purchase a copy of the diet ? you get an outline of what foods are claimed to cause rosacea, and a suggested list of foods to eat. A couple of books are suggested as supporting information for the diet. Interestingly some dieting books, including an internationally well known diet is incompatible with the rosacea diet - being full of offending foods.

The text contains a full listing of suggested foods to eat for 30 days. The remainder of the text of the diet is a curious collection of email exchanges from the diet's creator and people interested in trying it.

Brady points out several times on his web site that his diet is hard to stick to. The foods that you are asked to give up won't kill you, but for sure it will take a significant amount of self control - especially for those used to a modern western diet. Brady is also clear in what he isn't saying. The diet is not claimed to be a cure. So given that it is difficult and not claimed to cure you, what does it have to offer you ?

Many have commented on the diets author's desire to charge for the diet. One could say that people will only really value something that has some cost. This argument works for the rosacea-support group at large - many learned people have posted useful information to the group, but as it has come at no cost to list members, the value is missed. The alternate argument is that if you pay for something, you want it to work, and when you pay for it, your perceived rights suddenly expand. As the amount asked for is small I don't see this as a real issue. To take this point further, if you read the diet, and the pages of comments on the web site, it represents a couple of years of answering the same questions for the diet's author. Anyone who charges such a small fee, and sticks at it for a couple of years must really believe in what they are doing.

I attempted to gain some feedback from anyone who has tried the diet. I collected 85 email addresses from the diet itself and the web site and asked them for any feedback. Given that the best possible result I could hope for would only amount to anecdotal evidence, I was interested in as much feedback as possible. Brady tells us that he has had more than 500 people try his diet. Although I have only tried 85 names, and over time email addresses spoil, it is at least a small sample from which to make some comments. From these 85 addresses I got 17 bounces, 1 said it made their skin awful, 6 never tried it in the end, 1 said it was too hard, 3 said it did nothing and 4 said that they had a good response and believe that the diet was what made the difference for them.

Whilst the feedback was quite small the 4 good responses are an encouragement that for some the diet is worthwhile.
Some of the positive comments :

"I'm very grateful to Brady. While I have never followed his exact menus, I have now been avoiding certain food groups, per his suggestions, for over a year. The difference in my skin is very noticeable. I still have to avoid sun and heat and irritating skin products, and I still take tetracycline - but I was doing all those things before Brady's diet and I still had large cystic bumps, swelling and pain. I have no doubt that following Brady's advice helped me."
   -- Rose

"I have been on the diet for a year now and I have found that not only does it control my skin problems but it is a healthy diet. Perhaps so many people have suffered from Rosacea because of the high carb, low fat diet most people consume. Perhaps, the rosacea sufferers body is finally exhibiting stress from all the sugar and highly refined foods most people eat on a regular basis, perhaps the liver is not doing it's job properly (cleaning the skin) because of a constant poor diet. The rosacea diet basically triggered my research into a whole new approach to eating..."
   -- Nicola

"I have tried EVERYTHING I could find, have spent countless dollars and time trying to find something to help this condition. Brady's diet is the only thing that gives me results over time. I have found some things have worked for limited amounts of time, but this is the only thing over time."
    -- Debbie

Brady has recently created an email group at Yahoo! Groups relating to his diet. Another positive comment can be found [online.]

Given that I haven't actually tried the diet (it would require an committment I'm not willing to give), and going by the handful of comments that it works for some really searching - it could have something to offer. Will it work for you ? Well if you are really keen and willing to stick it out then you have nothing to lose...

I bought this book with the best of intentions: to read it in its entirety and apply its suggestions of a 30 day Atkins-like diet. Disappointed, I found that the author not only had no obvious accredited medical background of any type but also realized that he had written this book solely based on his personal experience with his rosacea. This certainly didn't apply to me and the explanations of having a protein diet and eliminating sugar wasn't equally as comforting either.

Unfortunately, for us rosacea patients who are trying to figure out the complexities of our disease, all know that our own bodily functions cannot simply be treated by a 30 day diet which includes what most dermatologists would have acknowledged as rosacea trigger foods.

Secondly, the last half of the book are just emails between the author and those who applied the diet, so there is a lot of repetitive information.
The book would've been shorter if it just referred you to read the Atkin's book after you read the preface of the Rosacea Diet. And if your rosacea didn't clear up at least you would've lost some weight. Truly disappointed at the lack of knowledge and information that was not apparent in the book. I gave this book one star just so I could get this comment posted. Otherwise I don't think it deserves a star. There are better books out there that will highly recommend ways to self-analyze reactions, provide worthy explanations and nutritional diet based on your own personal profile with rosacea.

This book is ok but The Rosacea Diet is a lot more helpful and a wealth of information; I highly recommend it instead.

Those familiar with the publications and surveys of the National Rosacea Society will recognise some of the substance of the book.

The NRS suggests trigger avoidance as a major contribution to reducing the severity of rosacea. This theory doesn't sit well with those who demand nothing less than the reversal of all symptoms. The thought of going down the path of finding which histamine producing foods cause me problems is somewhat unappealling.

The book has chapters on the mechanics of rosacea, ocular symptoms, diagnoses, stages of progression, theories of causes, vascular system, rosacea management through triggers, nutrition, stress, treatments and a chapter on alternative medicine. It is good to see the broad spectrum of rosacea topics addressed.

The section on nutrition deals with zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, flax seed, selenium, vitamins A,C and E, niacin and water.
Chapter 13 is about treatments and deals with antibiotics, tretinoin, retinaldehyde, steroids azelaic acid and a couple of paragraphs on lasers.

Those looking for details on photoderm, zinc oxide, antihistamines, jojoba oil and other new treatments talked about on rosacea-support, will need to hope and wait for a second edition of the book. Thus those who have been members of the Rosacea Support Group for more than a couple of months won't find the miracle cure that we hang around for.

The book will prove useful to those starting out on their quest to beat Rosacea. It is ideal to give to someone recently diagnosed with rosacea. Something in print is easy to digest. New patients reading this book may find relief for mild rosacea and if that is the case then the book is well worth it.

For more reviews, see http://rosacea.ii.net/reviews.html#handbook

This book got off on the wrong foot for me on the front cover. Calling the disease Acne Rosacea is a step backwards for all. No one is really calling it acne rosacea anymore. It is different enough from acne that the moniker is just confusing. Further, treating it like acne may just be the worst thing you can do.

The book is more of a template for `generic health researching' than anything specific to rosacea. The information is of such a generic level that a sourcebook on the next medical topic is just a search and replace away.

I thought that I might get to see some new information, but alas I was disappointed. On Page 4 we read
"All too often, patients diagnosed with acne rosacea will log on the the Internet, type words into a search engine, and receive several Web site listings which are mostly irrelevant or redundant"

Sadly this is the opposite of what you find. The National Rosacea Society comes up as a PageRank of 1 on Google. As much as we chastise the NRS, they do provide a very good starting point. If people were to start their search at the #1 rosacea web site then they will be on the right track. I'm not sure the same can be said for this book.

Later they promise "a chapter dedicated to helping you find your peer groups". They end up only mentioning a prescription drug page at rosacea-control.com, CureZone and MedHelp (of which CureZone didn't mention rosacea at all, and MedHelp timed out). Again they never mention the NRS or the Rosacea Support Group. I could keep going - the section on books doesn't mention the best text we have, the pages of links doesn't mention the Open Directory Project Categories ...

The Guidelines chapter is too short to contain anything useful. They talk about "another type of rosacea called vascular rosacea" this statement left me wondering if they had any idea what they were saying. Surely just paraphrasing the standard classification for rosacea would have been ideal introduction, especially when you are unsure of the topic you are addressing.

The whole aim of the series of books seems to be to give you information that you can't find on the well known `rosacea internet'. I have to say from my reading of this book there are scant new resources worth noting.

In the end the authors would have done better to embrace what they knocked in the first few pages. A trip to google.com, drop the `acne' bit at from `acne rosacea' and surf the first few sites you find. After that you will be in front of this book, and have something else to do with your $USD 25.