Rosacea or Irritant contact dermatitis? face

Hey, ive been treating my very mild acne with lots of acids and benzoil peroxide/ differin products from the past year or so. These harsh products always made me red, especially on the cheeks/nose area, so i stopped about 6 monthes ago.
But, it left me with nasty elevated red rashes all over my cheeks and nose, and when u look at it closely, you can see black dots covering the entire redness.  It has been getting better ever since i started washing my face with La Roche Posay's Effaclar face wash last tuesday... but whenever i apply any product to moisturize my skin, it just gets redder..

For instance, this afternoon i applied a post-solar from la roche posay and it made my skin red and inflammated, but  2 hours later when i washed the cream off with plain water, the inflammation went slightly down and the redness faded (not completly)  

I never got red before applying products and i dont have any family history of rosacea,... I am getting pretty desperate, my cheeks have been red and inflammated ever since i started with those darn acne/cosmetic products.. What should i do???  Please help. I am a 19 year old male FYI.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Since you have been applying different products for your acne, I am not sure whether you have applied any steroids for a long time, but the symptoms are suggestive of steroid induced rosacea. Steroid induced rosacea or dermatitis is an adverse effects of using steroids. Some patients develop steroid-induced rosacea within weeks of applying a topical steroid; others may not experience it for years.
Avoiding rosacea triggers, such as caffeine, spicy foods, and alcohol, also may help clear the skin. Also use of antibiotic creams, antihistaminics, sun screens and tacrolimus(available by prescription) helps but consultation of a dermatologist is required first.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.