Curse of the Celts

On a recent visit to my brother's, instead of the usual friendly 'hello, how are you?' I was greeted with 'what's wrong with your face??'

It all started here, on a rugby trip to Bath when I needed a bit of emergency dental treatment that required a needle up the underside of my nose and left me unable to move my facial muscles for 12 hours. No, not botox. The morning after the event I woke with a face like a belisha beacon only red, which I assumed was a result of the previous days anaesthetic.

Now, I'm not in the habit of looking at myself in the mirror, apart from when I put a bit of slap on on mornings when I'm working, so when my brother draws attention to my face and my family point out this is a regular occurance I suddenly realise this is not the after effects of a dose of freeze that would immobilise your pet donkey.

To cut a long story short, a trip to the doctors has confirmed a diagnosis of rosacea, aka 'the curse of the Celts'. As if we don't have enough bloody curses hanging over our heads without one of them actually manifesting itself on our faces.

So apart from applying medical cream prescribed, I am on a mission to discover what my triggers might be and avoid them, and I was doing OK until I hit this one, as listed by WedMD:

Weather conditions that cause rosacea:
Hot weather
Cold weather
Humid weather
Wind
Sunlight

That's it then. Cursed for life.