Hey =)
Well, I know EXACTLY what you're going through. Got picked on in school for it, low self-esteem because of it, and have even tried hypnotherapy as well. I've had it with this problem, but nothing has seemed to work for me either. I would be too afraid of that ETS surgery to get it because of the negative things I've heard about it. I'm 20 as well and feel that this has really impaired my life, but recently I had an idea that might work. The idea would be to do silly things that I wouldn't regularly do because of this. Like you can start off with something small like saying hi or waving to a stranger, do a few jumping jacks while at the supermarket until lastly you can end up doing karaoke or something, lol! Of course you'd get red in those moments, but what I think would happen is that gradually you wouldn't care anymore about what other people think, and therefore not get red anymore since you've done so many outrageous things that are out of your comfort zone. I haven't tried it yet and don't know if I'll have the guts to do some things like that, but like I said I've had it with this problem and I'm willing to try anything at this point. Maybe you should too, instead of having that risky surgery.
PS: I think people staring is a normal thing in human nature, but to us it feels like intense staring in our mind since we think that by staring the person is looking at us in some negative way and judging us. That's the way I see it. I don't like when people seem to really stare at me, especially when I'm red, but there's nothing we can do to change that :-/