Find and Avoid Your Personal Rosacea Triggers
Download free printer-friendly Rosacea Diary
Identifying Your Triggers
Rosacea is a chronic and often relapsing disorder that can be effectively controlled. You’ll want to follow the medical therapy your doctor prescribes, and part of that is identifying and eliminating environmental and lifestyle factors that cause flare-ups of your signs and symptoms.
Identifying those factors, however, is an individual process. What may cause a reaction in one person may not in another. This diary can help you identify and avoid factors that trigger or aggravate your signs and symptoms. It can also help you track how well your current treatments are working. Your rosacea diary includes a daily checklist of the most common factors that trigger rosacea flare-ups (see inside back cover), and allows space to list other factors that may affect you personally.
How to Use the Rosacea Diary
- Use this diary every day over at least two weeks; photocopy pages to track for longer periods.
- Complete the form at the end of each day.
- Assess your rosacea and note any changes to your signs and symptoms.
- Photographing yourself in consistent lighting conditions each day may help document improvements or worsening of your condition.
- After completing the diary, review the entries and look for things that seem to coincide with your rosacea flare-ups. Eliminate them wherever possible.
If eliminating these factors minimizes your flare-ups, you have probably identified the personal triggers you should avoid to help keep your rosacea under control. In surveys of patients who identified and avoided their personal rosacea triggers, more than 90% reported their condition improved. For tips on how to minimize or avoid the most common rosacea triggers check out the Coping with Rosacea booklet.