Rosacea is a skin condition where people experience facial flushing, redness or visible blood vessels. You may notice you have flushing or redness on your cheeks, nose, forehead and chin. Rosacea occurs in both men and women, but is more common for ladies. If men do get it, it tends to be more aggressive.
Rosacea is caused by irritation to the skin that leads to inflammation. We still aren’t sure exactly why this happens, but it may be to do with bacteria living in the gut, an allergy to the dermodex mite that lives on all our skins (this is very normal, but still a bit yucky to think about), genetics and or sun exposure.
Rosacea can get better or worse and things that can trigger it are:
•extremes of temperature, such as hot or cold weather, hot baths and wind exposure.
•cosmetic products, especially harsh products with fragrance or alcohol.
•sun exposure – make sure you use a good SPF (physical not chemical sunscreens)
•foods/drink – you may find that certain foods and drink can make it worse-things like tomatoes, spicy foods etc, caffeine and alcohol and others.
•medications and stress.
If your skin is sensitive or damaged, it will not cope with daily common daily aggressors that well. Why is that? Well, if the skin is compromised and unable to properly protect itself from this reaction, the body sends blood to the areas as a defence mechanism. Blood brings oxygen by red blood cells and immunity with white blood cells to try and correct the effect of these aggressors. However, it also brings heat, redness and inflammation. If this flushing reaction occurs regularly over time, the blood vessels just under the skin become dilated and the redness will be more permanent. As a result, the skin will become more vulnerable to daily aggressors and rosacea symptoms will get worse.
Is it all doom and gloom then, for people with this condition? Luckily, not! Is it something that can be treated and kept at bay. The goals are to control and reduce the irritation and inflammation, strengthen the skin lipid barrier and lessen the redness.
One of the main issues is a compromised skin barrier (this really is one of my favourite skin topics). What is this and why is is important?
Your skin is a barrier that acts like a security guard for your skin. It shields the body from bacteria and irritants and seals in moisture and hydration. Skin with a healthy barrier is well hydrated, moisturised, resilient and flexible. When the barrier is not working properly, it becomes thin or a thin or weak and allows irritants in and hydration out. This causes dullness, dryness and sensitivity and contributes to premature lines and wrinkles.
One of the big problems with a compromised skin barrier is trans epidermal water loss (TEWL). I explain this like tiles on a roof, where they become damaged and allow loss of moisture and an imbalance of oil in the skin. If this happens, the skin loses hydration and moisture AND is more at risk from pollution, UV rays, irritants, microbes and allergens. This all means more dry, irritated, inflamed skin and worsening of things like rosacea, eczema and psoriasis.
Here are some simple tips for you all:
- remember you may need to change your skincare in the winter for something a bit more hydrating/moisturising. Swipe to see the difference between these two commonly confused issues.
- Avoid using harsh products on your skin, especially in winter: a gentle cleanser, appropriate to your skin is the best option. Harsh products that strip the skin can make your skin sensitive and worsen problems-for example, using astringent cleansers for oily skin can make your skin produce more oil! Guess what, I wrote another whole blog on this that you can read here – I hope you love it!
- Use sunscreen daily to protect against UV rays (Here I go again, my old soap box again!) Here’s an article you may like to read on why this is important.
- See a skincare expert (like meeeeee!!) to help you find the right ingredients in the right forms and doses to help actively improve the hydrolipid barrier e.g. niacinamide (increases moisture, brightens skin and boosts hydration), hinikotiol (to help reduce redness, irritation and soothe the skin) and sodium hyaluronate to increase water content of the skin.
- Add an antioxidant in, which helps protect against UV damage, neutralise free radicals and support collagen development.
Certain products and then super gentle professional peels can help and also my FAVE microneeding, but often it’s a skincare at home for skin health and then come in a few weeks later kinda job really.
If you or someone you know suffers with this, why not book a consultation to find out more?
I’ll talk more about ways to help rosacea in another blog post-please keep an eye open for this coming soon!
Kat xx