Teacher with severe rosacea is cured by a cream containing capers (2024)

By the time she was 30, Carrie Smith detested being in photographs.

She had suffered from severe rosacea since her late teens, which left her skin red, mottled with spots and angry-looking.

She was unable to cover her face as just one drop of skin cream, makeup or even shampoo on her face would cause it to burn and sting for hours.

And while her friends wore revealing clothes she was forced to wrap herself up so that no amount of skin was on show, as being outside in the sun or in cold weather would cause it to ‘lobster red and puffy’.

Her skin affected her confidence and she believes it is one of the reasons she is still single.

Despite trying a range of treatments – from antibiotics prescribed by the doctor to smothering avocado or jelly on her face - nothing seemed to help her sensitive skin.

She eventually stumbled across a skin cream that contains an extract of capers, the salty green buds found in tartare sauce.

The caper extract in the cream is said to have anti-inflammatory properties, and within a month the spots had subsided and her skin was less sensitive and red.

Now, although her skin still flushes when she exercises, she is no longer bright red all the time, and is even able to wear make up.

Miss Smith, from Killearn, near Glasgow, said her skin problems began in her late teens, when her face would flush red after exercising.

She told MailOnline: ‘I was aware as a young woman that my skin was not "normal" but I just put it down to high spirits and wind burn as I am a very outdoorsy person and so I thought it was just extreme healthy outdoor ruddiness.'

But she did a ski season in her mid 20s and got really badly sun burned one day, her skin going from bad to worse after that.

‘It was no longer just red but it was bumpy too and the redness had spread to my nose and forehead whereas before it was just my cheeks and chin,’ she said.

‘And the skin looked mottled and broken. What was most concerning was that my skin started to look red most of the time, it wasn’t just after I had been outside anymore.’

She says having such red skin knocked her confidence.

She said: ‘By my early 30’s I started hating seeing pictures of myself in photos as my face was so obviously beetroot red compared to everyone else’s.

‘I had a very insensitive boyfriend at the time who kept telling me I should wear more make up. People were starting to comment on the state of my skin more and more frequently.

‘I’d like to say it didn’t affect me but in truth I think it probably did more than I’d like to admit.’

As her skin got worse, people began to comment on it, constantly asking if she was sunburnt, or implying she might be an alcoholic.

She said: ‘I’ve lost count of the number of time people have either commented that I’ve either caught too much sun or I have had one too many drinks.

‘I live in Scotland so the chances of catching too much sun are not that high. And yes drinking alcohol does make my face turn red, but people make these comments while I am work or at 10am?

‘I actually do not drink very much at all as it effects my skin so much but my face does make me look like I have been on the booze since the moment I wake up.’

People's comments left her feeling embarrassed and angry, she says.

‘It does annoy me when people that hardly know me feel at liberty to comment on my skin, I think it’s really rude and insensitive,' she said.

‘They would never dream of saying something to someone if they had a scar or a disability but they feel free to comment on my skin, as though it’s my fault or my choice or something.

‘I am fully aware of my skin almost 100 per cent of the time, I really don’t need people to point it out to me. I try not to let it, but these comments do obviously undermine my confidence.’

To make matters worse, she also developed an intolerance to any form of make up or sun creams, meaning she couldn’t even hide her burning skin.

‘It started off with a few products that stung my skin and then quickly went to almost everything stinging and making my face go lobster red and puffy,’ she said.

‘So not only did I have a very red bumpy face, I wasn’t really able to camouflage it with the multitude of products promising to cover up my redness as they all made my skin worse and make-up would just slide off my burning skin within a few hours, leaving me looking piebald and blotchy.’

Then, she started to develop reactions to shampoo.

It was so bad just one drop of shampoo on her bare skin would cause it to burn for hours, so had to start washing her hair separately.

She said: ‘Over the years I’ve invented all sorts of weird and wonderful face protecting devices and techniques in order to avoid not getting even a drop of shampoo on my face otherwise it means three or four hours of redness and burning.

‘I even bought one of those plastic head visors which protect baby’s faces when washing their hair.’

It got so bad she eventually went to her doctor and was diagnosed with rosacea and prescribed an antibiotic cream.

She tried it once or twice but it stung so badly she felt it was doing more harm than good.

After carrying out research online she found antibiotic creams can cause long term damage to the skin and make it even more alternative to the sun.

She began looking for alternatives, and tried suggestions such as making face masks out of avocado or jelly.

‘Obviously these tips did not have any effect whatsoever other than make a huge mess of my bathroom and me feel like a fool,’ she said.

‘All anti-redness products that people suggested mostly stung my skin and or didn’t work or often both.’

She cut down on drinking beer and eating meat, as both these things seemed to trigger her skin’s flare-ups.

After she was sent on a work exchange to southern Spain, the heat further aggravated her skin.

‘The kids at school keep asking me why my face is the same colour as their colouring pens!

‘With few options left to me I eventually ended up going out in the sun dressed like some weird mummy, with a cap on and then some kind of scarf wrapped around my face and neck.’

Her skin affected her romantic life, as she could not wear revealing clothes and looked as though she never makes an effort with her make up.

She said: ‘I’m single and it’s no wonder I have not met a man yet as while everyone else is in flirty summer clothes, I look like some strange creature from the desert wrapped up in scarves and hats.

‘I also can’t wear make-up so I’m sure on dates some men just think I can’t be bothered to make an effort. If only they knew!’

Miss Smith was about to give up hope of ever finding a solution when a friend recommended a new treatment for rosacea called KALME that contained an extract of capers

The following week her friend had ordered me some KALME products and she was too embarrassed to give her the products back or not use them, so she obediently took them home and tried them.

‘It was only the next day when I woke up and I saw the patch that I had treated was significantly less red and smoother than the rest of my face that I got excited.

‘Within two weeks my redness and bumpiness had dramatically improved. I was beyond delighted.’

KALME skincare contains a patented caper extract called Derma Sensitive.

Its manufacturers claim it can reduce skin redness and sensitivity by up to 70 per cent in four weeks, after carrying out a clinical trial of 20 people.

This is because the caper-extract present in the product has anti-inflammatory properties, they claim, as proved by a Saudi Arabian study published in 1985.

A month later, Miss Smith says her skin still flushes after exercise or if she goes out drinking, but she now has a ‘pinky tinge’ to her complexion but which she says looks ‘more like a healthy glow than a furious rash’.

She added: ‘I do still need to wear a wide brimmed hat out in the Spanish sun but I am no longer bright red all the time or needing to be wrapped in a scarf and my flare ups are far less furious and much less often.

‘Being able to also cover up the redness with the tinted moisturiser helps a lot for when I go out in the evenings.

‘I can even bare to look at myself in photos now as I am very pleased to see that I don’t look like a strawberry lollipop anymore.

'A work colleague told me I was looking really fresh last week, which put a wee smile on my face.

'And thankfully I haven’t heard “Oh you’ve caught the sun!” so far this month.

‘It’s boosted my confidence no end as my skin feels under my control now rather than feeling like a furious monster with a mind of its own.'