Let’s talk about… Rosacea

Rosacea is a skin condition where you see flushing and redness in the face – if that sounds a bit vague, it’s because rosacea can range from the odd blush-type flush that comes on when you’ve had a glass or two or wine, to a persistent redness which may or may not come with a side-helping of pimples or pustules, if you’re really unlucky. It’s a condition that’s under-diagnosed and not well understood, and it’s much more common than most of us think. Unfortunately it’s not something that can be cured, but there are many ways to manage it. I cover a few of these in the video, but for more information, take a look at the full, free, downloadable fact sheet on my website . 

You can watch the video here, or read the transcript, below. 

Today, I’m talking about rosacea which is this condition of the skin where you get flushing through the skin, so it’s a redness that shows up in the face.

Rosacea is a really common condition  – a lot of people don’t know that they have it. They think their face just goes a bit red when they have coffee, or when they have alcohol, or they eat spicy food, though the most common trigger for rosacea is sunshine, UV light. That kicks it off for about 85% of people.

The bad news about rosacea is that it’s not curable. If you have it, you need to learn to manage it. The kind of skincare you will need to help manage rosacea is the sort you will find in the ‘doctor’ ranges, the type of products that you’ll find at skin care clinics, where they have products specifically formulated for this, or you could go and see a dermatologist who can get you some prescription products to try just to reduce that redness.

In terms of tweakments, the things you can try to bring down that flushing are: IPL, that’s intense pulsed light, and laser. Those both work on the pigment within those tiny veins on your face, which are what’s creating the flushing, so if you can clear those tiny veins away, there’s less redness in the face and your face will look clearer.

It’s not a permanent fix; those veins will be gone but more will pop up, but it can just help you get a grip on what is going on. It can take down the redness in the skin to make it easier to live with.  

There’s more about this on the downloadable factsheet on rosacea.