Skin Care Secrets – How to Treat Rosacea
If you are bothered by unwanted facial redness, facial flushing, and/or broken facial capillaries you may be suffering from a common dermatologic condition called rosacea. Rosacea also can be associated with acne-like bumps in the central part of your face. No one knows for sure what causes rosacea, but the condition is associated with unwanted dilated capillary blood flow in the face (especially in the cheeks, nose, and chin), increased facial skin sensitivity, and tissue inflammation. Rosacea is very troublesome for many and can be difficult to treat.
1. Medications. Usually when seeking medical care for this condition, rosacea-sufferers are prescribed medications which sometimes work and sometimes don’t (which can be frustrating.) Topical and oral antibiotics are commonly used. These can help with the acne-like breakouts but often don’t help with the flushing and broken capillaries.
2. Skin Care Products. Because of skin sensitivity issues, rosacea-sufferers need to be very careful in choosing their skin care regimen. Some of the common irritants in skin care products that should be avoided include alcohol, witch hazel, fragrance, menthol, peppermint, eucalyptus oil, sodium laurel sulfate, retinol, and salicylic acid. A good rule of thumb for rosacea skin care is “less is more”. Choose a product with few ingredients. The more ingredients in the product, the more likelihood that one of those will exacerbate redness.
3. Sunblocks. People with rosacea should also wear sunblock daily of at least 30 spf. Sun exposure will cause those blood vessels to dilate, exacerbating redness and increasing broken capillary visibility. Choose a sunblock that contains zinc or titanium, and reapply it every few hours for long periods of time spent in the sun.
4. Laser/IPL treatments. Laser treatment is one of the best options available for treating rosacea. Laser rosacea treatments traditionally use intense pulse light energy to accomplish three things 1) to destroy the dilated blood vessels that cause the rosacea-associated redness 2) to help calm down the inflammation and 3) to help erase the tiny visible spider veins. This type of treatment has been available for several years, but laser technology has evolved and the treatment protocols have improved, so that rosacea laser treatment has gotten even better and more effective. These treatments are associated with only a minimum amount of discomfort, and increased facial redness for only a few hours (which you may cover with makeup immediately.) Generally 5 treatments are required, spaced out every 2-3 weeks, and your rosacea improves gradually over the course of your treatments (as the dilated blood vessels gradually shut down).