All About Rosacea

If your face looks like you're blushing and you get bumps that are a bit like acne, you might have a skin condition called rosacea.

Rosacea is a chronic skin condition that affects the center of the face, and is characterized by flare-ups and remissions, the cause is still unknown, and there is no cure. However, research has allowed us to find ways to treat the condition by minimizing its symptoms.

 Rosacea usually develops at any age. It mostly starts as flushing or redness on the cheeks, nose, chin or forehead. The redness tends to become redder and more persistent, and visible blood vessels may appear. If left untreated, inflammatory bumps and pimples often develop.

There are four subtypes of rosacea. Each subtype is characterized with a different set of symptoms that occurs in cycles that may persist to weeks or sometimes months. Symptom’s trademark is redness on your nose, cheeks, and forehead.

• Subtype one: also known as erythematotelangiectatic rosacea (ETR), is associated with skin redness, flushing, and visible blood vessels.

• Subtype two, papulopustular (or acne) rosacea, is associated with swelling, acne-like breakouts, often affects middle-aged women.

• Subtype three, known as rhinophyma, is associated with thickening of the skin on your nose. It mostly affects men.

• Subtype four is known as ocular rosacea, and its ye redness and irritation and swollen eyelids

Basic Skin Care for Rosacea:

1.     Choose rosacea friendly skin care products:  many skin care products and cosmetics can irritate Rosacea. You need to go for gentle cleansing, moisturizing, make-up and sun protection that can help reduce this sensitivity and skin irritation that rosacea causes.

While choosing skin care products, read the list of ingredients to reduce the likelihood of skin irritation your skin, you want to avoid anything that contains:

o    Alcohol

o    Camphor

o    Fragrance

o    Glycolic acid

o    Lactic acid

o    Menthol

o    Sodium laurel sulfate (often found in shampoos and toothpaste)

o    Urea

o    Fragrance free

Test skin care products and makeup before applying them to your face. 

2- CLEANSE YOUR FACE

Cleansing when you wake up or before you go to bed helps remove oil and dirt that can irritate your skin. Choose a mild, rosacea friendly cleanser (not soap). Rinse off the cleanser thoroughly with water and pat dry your face gently with a clean, cotton towel.

3-     Moisturize every day:  Moisturizing helps hydrate your skin by trapping water in your skin. This can reduce irritation and make your skin feel more comfortable.

4-     Apply sun screen daily:  Sun exposure can worsen rosacea. This is so common that it’s actually one of the most frequent causes of a rosacea flare-up. Even people with dark skin can have a rosacea flare-up after being outdoors in the sun.

Choose SPF 50+ broad spectrum sun screen that contains Zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, or both.

Possible treatments for Rosacea:

1-     Topical Treatments: Your dermatologist may choose one of the following topical treatments

• Blood vessel constrictors: rosacea causes small blood vessels under your skin to dilate which causes your skin look red, hence topical treatment that constrict the blood vessels and reduce the redness.

• Azelaic acid: is an anti-inflammatory cream that can reduce redness and fight acne-causing bacteria. This treatment can make your skin dry and itchy, so you need to be careful and use moisturizer and sun screen 2-3 times a day

• Topical antibiotics: Topical antibiotics like metronidazole can also reduce the redness and reduce effect on demodex mites that may be causing rosacea.

·         Ivermectin: is a topical medicine that fights demodex mites that might be causing inflammation and pustules Sometimes, dermatologists will suggest a combination of treatments.

2-     Oral medications

·        A course of an oral antibiotic, usually doxycycline, could be just the ticket for addressing your rosacea because of its anti-inflammatory effects.

·       Isotretinoin which is vitamin A derivative that's typically used for cases of severe acne, but it can also target lesions and pustules of hard to treat cases of rosacea.

3-     Other treatments

There are a few other treatments that might be options for you, depending on your situation:

·         IPL: Intense- Pulsed light can be very effective for the redness and flushing component of rosacea. By treating the dilated blood vessels, the vascular response is reduced.

Several sessions are required for acceptable results.

·         Laser therapy: Laser help in reducing visible appearance of blood vessels that make your skin look so red and flushed.

Several sessions are required for acceptable results.

• Surgery: Some people with rosacea develop a thickening of the skin called phyma that affects the nose. If it gets severe, you may want to consider surgery to remove some of that excess, thickened skin.