What is Rosacea?
Rosacea is a chronic, inflammatory, sensitive skin condition affecting the cheeks, nose, chin, and forehead. Those who suffer from Rosacea may experience sensitivity, extremely flushed skin, persistent redness, broken capillaries, and breakouts. Rosacea is seen primarily in women from the ages of 30-50, but it affects more destructively in men. People who suffer from untreated Rosacea may have a damaged skin barrier and do not address dryness or dehydration. It is crucial to stay hydrated by drinking fluids and address the skin's dryness topically with the correct products. The most important thing to remember is that Rosacea tends to worsen when left untreated!
What causes Rosacea?
There are many different potential causes of Rosacea, including vascular dysfunction and excess vascular endothelial growth factor. This vascular dysfunction causes the number of blood vessels to increase and become more superficial on the skin's surface, making the redness super visible on the skin's surface! Additionally, many triggers increase the ruddiness of Rosacea: drinking alcohol, spicy foods, hot beverages, steam rooms, exercising, or any extreme temperatures can trigger Rosacea. Impaired barrier function contributes to many different skin conditions, especially Rosacea. Removing the skin's NMF or natural moisturizing factor will result in excessive transepidermal water loss. Using harsh topical treatments at home, over-cleansing the skin, over-exfoliating the skin, and neglecting to properly moisturize the skin, can damage the skin and exacerbate Rosacea.
How can we help?
One of the first things we would want to do is reduce inflammation. We can do this in many different ways, externally applying topical agents and internally using supplements and treating the gut. A daily topical skincare regimen should be designed for your severity of Rosacea to help reduce the skin's inflammation:
A gentle cleanser to perform exfoliation to help remove surface buildup and increase skin cell turnover, such as Ultra Gentle Cleanser.
The most effective topical treatment is a low dose of Retin-A like Concentrated Retinol Serum. Retin-A increases the skin cell turnover and helps shed excess buildup on the skin.
To help decrease the inflammation, look for aloe vera, silymarin, willow bark extract, and pro-vitamin B-5 like our Pigment Corrector and Aloe Vera Moisturizer.
These steps are vital in treating Rosacea because they contain ingredients that help with inflammation, skin cell turnover, and excessive dryness.
We also must treat the Rosacea internally, rebalancing the gut and taking nutrients that help relieve inflammation and rebuild/repair the skin. Some oral supplements that can help are our pre and probiotic Full Spectrum Brand Phyto Spectrum and Probiotic Spectrum. Nutrients like NAC and Omega-3 Spectrum, and anti-inflammatory agents such as Curcumin Max. Interestingly, omega-3 Fatty acids actually play a dual role; they help with inflammation and help control the dryness that can occur with this skin condition.
We can't forget about HYDRATION when we treat Rosacea, both inside and out! Drinking lots of fluids with electrolytes help keep us hydrated. On our skin, applying a topical hyaluronic acid product on our skin, such as our Fractionated Hyaluronic Acid Serum, allows the skin to retain moisture.
Finally, laser's have been used for years to treat the unwanted telangiectasias on the face. Still, the diffuse redness has been very difficult to treat, especially in higher Fitzpatrick skin types. As far as in-office treatments go, the Candela Laser offers a Diffuse Redness Laser Facial Treatment. This treatment incorporates a particular setting and uses a very comfortable painting pattern across the face to reduce the visible redness significantly in the skin. We recommend this treatment regimen every 3-4 weeks for about 6 sessions to help correct this issue.
We understand having Rosacea can be frustrating, but we are here to help!
Contact us to book a complimentary consultation with our Aesthetician Nina!