Brimonidine topical and Pain: What Users Say

• Agr...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 28, 2016

Brimonidine topical for Rosacea "DO NOT USE! I tried this product for two days. On day three, my skin went purple on my cheeks and became very painful, like severe sunburn. I read a report from the company that makes the stuff, and they said that patients forget what they looked like before, which is why they think it is worse! I took before and after pictures, and I look like I've been burned! TERRIBLE STUFF! I rarely used to flush, and now it won't go away!!!!"

• Pad...
• September 21, 2016

Brimonidine topical for Rosacea "My husband was given this medication by our dermatologist 6 months ago, and he was thrilled to have finally found an answer to his rosacea. The last 3 months have been a living hell! His skin became bright red and looks almost purple. For weeks, his face became crusty and was oozing fluid onto his pillow to the point where I was washing his pillowcases every day. We have been to a variety of specialists who say it's contact dermatitis. He has been on prednisone and antibiotics 3 different times, and nothing is helping. For the first month, he couldn't sleep because he was in such agony, and only an ice pack gave him relief. I plan on calling the FDA hotline, which I found on the Mirvaso website."

• Be ...
• June 29, 2014

Brimonidine topical for Rosacea "Awful experience. First 2 days were perfect, and then the rebound flushing began. I never have flushed that bad before. It was dark red/purple, painful, and swollen. I should have stopped then, but I kept thinking my skin would adjust. Didn't want to give up on it, but finally quit using after 3 weeks. Took a week for the rebound flushing to quit after discontinuing use. I went back to my baseline redness everywhere but my forehead. It is redder than when I began treatment."

• Cap...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 7, 2015

Brimonidine topical for Rosacea "My derm gave me some samples to try because I can't afford laser treatments. Applied some on day one. A little sting, but that was gone quickly. Within minutes, I noticed a definite reduction in the redness. Within an hour, my face was just slightly pink. Spent the day enjoying not having to look at the deep red on my face in the mirror. Day two was a different story. The rebound was so bad, the redness was back even worse than before, and the pain was excruciating. Even had some puffiness, like my skin was rebelling. I chucked all the samples in the trash. I'll never use Mirvaso again. Hope others have better luck."

• Tro...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• August 29, 2022

Brimonidine topical for Rosacea "This 'magic' drug works. But you pay a price in pain, itching, severe redness the next day. All much worse than the original symptoms. READ THE WARNINGS. Vanity is not worth the price of this medication."

• Fed...
• June 28, 2017

For Rosacea "Having this cream prescribed to me by my doc, I noticed no difference in the redness of my skin in the beginning (maybe worse redness if anything). After using it for several days, my face became extremely red, very itchy, sore, sensitive, and my face became swollen, so I called my doc, and she told me to stop using it immediately. After that, I had another bad experience with another cream, so I stopped using that one and decided to go back to the Mirvaso, and I started noticing positive changes in my skin. My face would turn white and normal. I have been using Mirvaso daily for two years, I have my good days, and I have my really bad days. It severely affects my life just in every way possible."

• Mel...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• January 8, 2017

Brimonidine topical for Rosacea "I still have flare-ups during the day, but there are times when my skin is completely free from any redness, especially about an hour after it's applied. It loses its effectiveness after about 6 hours for me. After the tube is open, I've tried to stretch it out past 30 days, but its effectiveness is not as good when the tube is first opened, I've found. I remember it taking a few weeks when I first started using it, along with a topical cream at night, for my skin to start to change. My script ran out, and I went without it for a week, and I hated not having it. My skin burned and hurt again when I stopped using it for that time. Although it doesn't completely eliminate symptoms, it sure does help, and I will not go a day without it."

• Nev...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 30, 2020

For Rosacea "I’ve used this stuff for 3 days. The first night I woke up with absolutely no redness. I thought, hey, maybe this stuff works? After just 2 more days, I felt like my nose and cheeks are on fire! Not only do they feel like they are on fire, they look it! The redness is so bad I can’t even hide it with makeup. My cheeks and nose make me look like I was just in an oil fire. Worst product I’ve ever put on my face! It’s been 1 week since I’ve last used it, and on the daily, my face looks as if I poured boiling oil on it. They should definitely pull these from the shelves! I can’t believe there is not a lawsuit out for this company. The pain my cheeks and nose are in, the events or interaction with anyone I’m missing because of how my face looks and feels..... DO NOT USE this ointment. I will make any redness you had previously 150% worse!!!"

• Rox...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 3, 2020

For Rosacea "So it's called ONRELTEA here in Canada. The first few times I used it, it took the redness away for a few hours, and I had no reaction to it. I used it on and off for a while, still with no side effects, until one day when it was wearing off in the evening, my cheeks started to get super red and blotchy. I didn't think much of it until the next evening when my face got extremely red and felt like it was on fire, my cheeks and nose were throbbing and so painful that I had to put a cold cloth on my face and go to bed. I hadn't even used the gel that day at all. It started happening again on the 3rd evening, so I went straight to bed as I didn't want to deal with the pain again. My face was redder than it ever was for the next couple of weeks. I haven't used this gel since and probably won't ever again. It's such a shame because this could be the best thing to happen to rosacea sufferers if it didn't have these awful side effects."