Rosacea is a chronic skin condition that affects the skin on the face. It causes redness on the forehead, cheeks, and nose. The condition gets worse over time, blood vessels may appear and the redness intensifies. Small red pustules can develop and in severe cases, rosacea can also affect the eyes - causing them to look watery and bloodshot. The skin condition can also appear on the neck, back, and chest.
What Causes Rosacea?
There is very little known about rosacea, the condition seems to only affect fair-skinned people and is more common in women than men. The age group most affected are between 40 and 60 years old. Yet, the actual cause of the condition is unknown. However, there are thought to be certain triggers for people that suffer from rosacea, including stress, caffeine, alcohol, and the weather.
In addition, genetics and the immune system are also thought to be contributing factors in sufferers, but it is not known for sure. When rosacea skin flares up it makes the blood vessels in the skin dilate, causing a red rash. This condition can have a huge impact on the lives of sufferers, causing anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression.
What Can Help?
Rosacea is a long-term skin condition and unfortunately there is no cure, however, there are medications and creams that can help with symptoms. Sufferers need to take extra care of their skin, using natural organic products will limit flare-ups.
Glamour Magazine has this advice, “Avoid anything you know could aggravate the skin further. It is always a good idea to try and use natural, gentle, non-fragranced skin products when suffering from a skin condition. Although, as rosacea is a medical condition, there are specially prescribed creams that can help to control it.”
Laser treatments and cosmetic surgery are sometimes used to treat severe cases of rosacea. Laser treatment uses light energy to treat red blood vessels reducing redness and flushing, it was found that patients who underwent laser therapy saw a 40% to 60% improvement in symptoms.
There are local applications that you can apply to the skin to control the inflammatory element of rosacea, the medication can take around 8 weeks before you start seeing results, reducing redness and irritation in the skin. Oral antibiotics are generally used on moderate to severe cases of rosacea, the most commonly used antibiotics used for this belong to the tetracycline and erythromycin group. The length of the course will depend on your response, it is usually recommended to use an oral and cream treatment together.
Self-Care
If you have rosacea, there are things you can do to help your skin. Always protect skin from the sun by using a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30. Try not to rub, scrub or use scented products on the skin, it will make rosacea much worse.
Use pure organic products to cleanse and moisturise your skin, they are gentle, unperfumed and contain only pure ingredients, this will help calm and soothe your skin.
Consider lifestyle too, cutting down on known triggers, such as alcohol and caffeine should help, it may be beneficial to keep a diary to identify what is causing rosacea to flare-up.