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April is rosacea awareness month!

woman in pink

As a sufferer myself I have done alot of research on Rosacea, I have felt embarrassed of my skin, with some days i’ve not want to leave the house without layers of makeup. It has also caused pain and its knocked my confidence alot. So I hope this article may help others in the same boat too.

Rosacea is an inflammatory skin condition that affects 1 in 10 people, thats a fair few, so you aren’t alone!

I have found how to keep mine under control and also i’m in love with a botanical cream that helps to sooth and conceal when needed. You wouldn’t even know I had rosacea in this photo right?!

So what is rosacea?

Rosacea is an inflammatory skin condition that generally affects the centre section of the face including the forehead, nose, cheeks, above the lips and on the chin. It can also thicken the skin tissue and often when people think of rosacea they think about the bulbous nose look. Its most common in the 30-to-50-year-old age group, or who have fair skin. 

What causes rosacea?

So from all the research i’ve done, there isn’t just one cause, theres a great big long list of things. Some experts thinking it is a 50/50 split between genetics and environmental factors.

What are the common symptoms of rosacea?

Rosacea is redness over the cheeks mainly, but it can also be an oily skin condition which I didn’t realise realise.

Rosacea is actually activated by oil and this causes a lot of inflammation – you see a lot of vascularity in the skin, and it often starts with the flushing, redness, and/or persistent redness and tingling in the cheeks. Broken capillaries are also a common symptom, which you might see in the corner of the client’s nose or across the cheeks. Those are the first couple of stages, then you start to get the papules and pustules.

What are the most common triggers of rosacea?

Certain drinks have been noted as top influencers of rosacea breakouts, I have found red wine and gin tends to trigger mine, beer and Vodka apparently too. So can spicy food be a culprit. According to a study by the National Rosacea Society, spices and hot food worsened the symptoms of rosacea in up to 75% of adults, thats crazy right! 

I have noticed that after fitness, like a run for example it can increase my flare-ups. Apparently it’s due to the increase in the body’s demand for oxygen, which results in higher respiration and heart rates.

The key is to modify the workout to minimise the effects on rosacea, while still maintaining the cardiovascular and respiratory benefits. Exercise in off-peak hours when the sun is low and the temperature is cool, and make sure you stay hydrated.

We all like the sun, but sun exposure is also a common factor because. The ultraviolet rays from the sun is recorded as a trigger.

How I treat rosacea in my beauty room?

Rosacea is a condition that generally does progress – it can go into remission or disappear at times, but it will come back. Unless you’re treating it, it tends to get worse. As a therapist, I want to prevent the progression because it’s much harder to claw it back when rosacea has progressed to the later stages.

With rosacea, the key thing is to make sure your client has a really strong barrier function, so I work to strengthen it to prevent transdermal water loss (the evaporation of moisture from the skin), which will help with hydration and make the client’s skin glow more. We all want a glow right!

What ingredients are best to use on rosacea skin?

Salicylic acid will help control oil production but you also need to exfoliate, which a lot of people with an inflammatory skin condition are quite frightened of doing, I hear ALL the time, “oh i cant as it’ll irritate my skin”. But when you speed up cell turnover, you speed up cell function too, so when you aren’t exfoliating, your accumulating all those dead cells on the surface of your skin this will always lead to a grey dull appearance.

I would be very careful with exfoliation, especially microdermabrasion. A lot of advanced treatments are actually very beneficial for rosacea as long as the skin is strong, resilient and prepped. You need to make sure the skin is calm and functioning beautifully first.

The inflammatory systems within the skin are on high alert after you exfoliate, so you need to be careful. You need to strengthen the skins barrier and follow it with application of lots of antioxidants and sun protection, as the sun is a big trigger for rosacea as mentioned above.

What product can you use to give you some confidence?

A DD cream called 3D corrector is fantastic for a bit of protection and coverage, it helps to eliminate dullness from deep within the skin’s surface and it can help to minimise the appearance of dark spots and their recurrence also.

The sheer coverage from this cream instantly perfects skin tone and vibrancy for a flawless healthy glow, helping to give you a bit of confidence without having to wear makeup.

Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4 within this cream counteracts skin exhibiting loss of suppleness, elasticity, and firmness.

Hydrolysed Collagen & Hyaluronic Acid which are 2 ingredients in this cream combat loss of radiance and rough skin texture. The vitamins E & C protect against free radicals, which is important for rosacea skin.

Have a look at it in action

To order your own cream see below

The cream has a technology built in that it will adapt to your skin tone, so its not as important to get it perfect like your foundation

Medium is light to medium skin

Medium/dark is for medium to olive skin tones