What is Rosacea?

One evening while I was having a glass of wine with some friends they asked me if I was okay or if I had been in the sun because my face was bright red. I looked into my purse mirror and low and behold my face was indeed red as a beet and yet I could not figure out what was causing this awful flushing. I looked into one of my skin books and discovered that I have Rosacea.

Rosacea is a common skin disorder and it affects an estimated 14 million Americans. It usually occurs in adults between the ages of 30 and up and mostly with lighter skin, hair and eyes. But I soon discovered that it does affect children and people of any skin color. Because I am olive skinned and yet I have rosacea.

By the way Rosacea is pronounced (rose-AY-sha). It is definitely a chronic shin condition that worsens over time. Its primary symptom is redness of the face,neck and chest. It will look as though you are blushing, usually in the center of the face and progresses into persistent redness in your face. The redness may appear on the neck and chest as well. It also can be accompanied by pimples, puss, and visible blood vessels on the face.

Typically rosacea affects more women then men. Women usually have an occurance during or before menopause. Men develop rosacea more severely than women with a condition called Rhinophyma which is a condition where the nose thickens and enlarges becoming discolored taking on a red and sometimes a purplish appearance.

Rosacea also affects the eyes in some cases causing eye problems such as redness, itching, burning, dryness, excessive tearing, ligh sensitivity and blurred vision. One can feel as though there in sand in your eyes, a very uncomfortable feeling.

Doctors still don’t know the exact cause of rosacea, or even if it can be passed on through families. Although there is no cure, rosacea can be treated and controlled. If you go to a dermatologist they will start you with a topical antibiotic that should be applied directly to the problem areas. The most popular antibiotics used is tetracycline, minocycline, erythromycin or doxicyline, but unfortunately this regime only clears up pimples and does little to improve the flushing or redness of your skin.

I personally recommend and encourage life changes to help control rosacea. The following are changes to help eliminate the triggers that cause rosacea to become aggravated and flare up.

• Heat (soaking in hot baths and spas)
• Stenuous exercise
• Sunlight (sun bathing)
• Wind
• Cold temperature
• Spicy food
• Stress
• Alcohol (red wine)
• Menopause
• Long term use of steroids ont the face

If you have rosacea you will probably also have sensitive, reactive skin. You have o be careful when trying out new products as you will have a tendancy to react badly to many ingredients such as fragrance, glycolic, Retin-A, strong cleaners, retinols and anti-aging treatments.

You may want to try wearing a sunscreen daily, using a mild cleanser, getting intense pulsed-light therapy, photo-facials. I recommend that you find an experienced medical professional to perform your treatments.

There are various creams and facial products on the market today…the product that I learned first hand that helps keep my rosacea under control is products with anything made from roses (oil, water, cream) it has a calming, soothing effect on my skin and I can see the difference by the next day, this works for me but be careful and read the ingredients of the products you are using amking sure that they have a skin calming effect.