-Questions about rosacea come in at regular intervals now. Many people think about whether they might have rosacea, how it behaves and what my best tips are, so I thought we could dig into rosacea on a rainy summer day.
Briefly about rosacea and what rosacea is
- Rosacea is a common disease and you can say that approximately 10% are affected
- It appears at the age of 20/30/40 and is more common in women than men
- Occurs as redness, acne-like (hence it is also called adult acne) with only pimples and plaques but also as cystic acne or in flushes, thickened skin or as broken blood vessels on the face. Mainly nose, cheeks but can also occur over/on the chest.
- Rosacea is chronic and cannot be cured, that is, you carry it for life
- Usually occurs in periods and as flare-ups
- Not contagious
The cause of rosacea is not completely known, but it can be seen that it is hereditary. Most often, it is people with fair, sensitive skin who are more prone. Even those who suffer more easily from eczema skin and are prone to swelling are more likely to get rosacea.
With rosacea, you can also see some broken blood vessels in the skin, this is often due to the increased blood pressure, which can also cause the body's lymph to not function optimally, which leads to increased swelling.
Rosacea does not have to look the same for everyone, some get more redness and others more acne-like rashes. You can also see that the skin can become more thickened, especially over the nose, and it appears more in men.
You can also suffer from rosacea in the eyes, then you often feel a burning, dry and itchy sensation in the eyes.
The different types of rosacea are usually divided into facial redness, acne-like rashes, thickened skin & eye irritation, depending on the type of rosacea you have, it may need different help.
What is known is that rosacea is an inflammatory disease.
Investigation
We recommend that you always visit the health center to get the correct diagnosis so that you do not, for example, confuse rosacea with acne, as the treatment methods are completely different.
What you often see is that the skin's microbiome is different, you can see an increased growth of bacteria and increased demodex. The skin can also be more alkaline and a defect is that the skin has increased moisture loss.
During the years I have worked as a skin care therapist, I have met quite a few rosacea clients, some have been treated incorrectly and felt that they did not get a holistic perspective of the disease from the healthcare system.
Having rosacea is both troublesome and can be very painful when flare-ups occur, which can also increase the risk of depression and other mental illnesses. Therefore, I want to try to highlight an overall picture of various factors that can be so-called "triggers". Many say that they don't know for what reason or what factor triggered rosacea and you never know that for sure, but there are so-called "triggers" that many feel are the main factors to a triggered rosacea.
Don't despair, there is a lot you can do via lifestyle changes and by understanding your skin and skin care products better!
What I recommend is to keep a skin diary where you write down what or how your skin reacted during a day and what you did for it. You can also do this with advantage in case of other skin diseases or problems in order to get a clearer picture of how your skin reacts during a certain period, the recommendation is to keep a diary for approx. 2-3 months to be able to go back and try to find out the triggering factors.
Triggers
We list some of the most common "triggers" in rosacea (Note: This is very individual and not always easy to know)
Since we work with skin care, we want to highlight lifestyle "triggers" but also beauty "triggers".
Lifestyle triggers:
Can be,
- Sun, heat, cold, heat, wind, strongly spiced food, stress, alcohol, strong drinks, high-intensity exercise.
Beauty triggers:
Can be,
- Strong substances in products, preservatives (some more allergenic), peeling of the wrong kind, e.g. acid peeling and too rough mechanical peelings. Synthetic sunscreen products, foaming cleansers, perfumes, too hard rotating facial massage.
Flushing Rosacea
Rosacea can also appear as so-called flushes where you can experience that the skin burns or that the body burns, which is not pleasant. The best thing is to try to understand what triggered the flushes. The best quick solution here is usually to put something cool against the skin, e.g. a cool towel or something cold from the freezer. Here, however, I want to strike a blow not to create too great a contrast with a burning skin, but instead try to put on something cool instead of ice cold. It has also been seen that rapid heat changes have a negative effect on rosacea skin.
What is often seen is a stagnant lymphatic system in rosacea clients, which can appear as swelling in the body. Here I recommend seeking out a knowledgeable lymphatic masseur who can help you get started with strengthening lymphatic massage. Our Massage Oil- Revitalizing is produced with essential oils that will help the body and lymph to detox. You apply this oil to the body and is very suitable as a supplement to your self-care massage for the lymph. Lymphatic massage can reduce swelling which in turn leads to reduced pressure in the skin.
Rosacea is an inflammatory disease and many of my clients tell me that they have tried cortisone which has only made the rosacea worse. If you go to a doctor, you are usually prescribed antibiotics, which can make the redness and rashes milder, but usually reappear after the antibiotic course has ended.
I often advise to look at the big picture in these cases, if you want to take a course of antibiotics which can again lead to a weakened immune system. Instead, you could try to think of reinforcement for both body and skin.
In many cases, several have reviewed that they got better when they gained balance and built up their stomach/intestines through, for example, the right probiotics and also made other important lifestyle changes. Here you can also benefit from the help of an expert in nutritional advice or coaching.
Stress & Dietary Supplements
Everyone probably lives with increased stress at some point in their lives, but finding some way to reduce stress can make rosacea calmer. By trying to find some form of relaxation, through meditation, yoga, forest walks or whatever suits you.
Increasing the intake of anti-inflammatory preparations such as omega 3 can give great results. Omega 7 has been seen to give great results for those with rosacea in the eyes because omega 7 builds and strengthens the mucous membranes. Omega 7 is found naturally in, among other things, sea buckthorn, which is also available as capsules in most health food stores.
Another tip is to review your work or home environment, do you have dry indoor air, do you work a lot in front of the screen, do you need to replenish moisture in the skin during the day. A humidifier or face mist might be good to think about getting.
If you work outdoors, you may need to protect yourself with a hat or sunscreen.
Rosacea skin is usually easily irritated and sensitive. What we want to do is rebuild a weakened skin barrier, we don't just want to avoid everything,
but still think, fewer products, less is more !
Skin care for Rosacea
If you want to change skin care or try something new, you should do it one step at a time, maybe start by changing one product instead of all, if you want to try something new, you can advantageously do it on the neck to see how the skin reacts.
What I recommend is of course individual for everyone, but what I have seen give good results is to try to avoid perfumed products and to wash only with cool water.
If you have had make-up on, it is of course very important to wash your face clean, now avoid all forms of foaming products, surfactants and washing active ingredients. We want to protect the skin's natural protective barrier.
Feel free to use thicker oils when cleaning and capture them from the skin.
Moisturize the skin often and a lot because rosacea is a skin that loses a lot of moisture. Add a thinner oil as your final product.
Here we recommend
- Sea buckthorn seed oil (available in spring). Face Oil ). Sea buckthorn contains concentrated amounts of the sea buckthorn berry's benefits and is intensive skin care. The oil is rich in beta-carotene (provitamin A) and vitamin E. The rich content of fat-soluble vitamins means that sea buckthorn oil has a proven cell renewal, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect. It also contains the fatty acid Omega 6, which strengthens the skin's barrier protection, which is good for dry skin. Sea buckthorn oil has also shown great results on rashes caused by rosacea.
- The unfiltered and cold-pressed avocado oil is green in color and can also be used with advantage to neutralize the red in the skin.
- Borage oil
- Jojoba oil
- Thistle oil
- Night light oil
- Apricot kernel oil
Face masks
You can advantageously use mild face masks, a good tip is to take refrigerated natural yogurt (supports the PH of the skin) over the face or honey (antiseptic) which is very good for the skin and apply as a mask and leave on for 10 minutes.
Even a cool Gua Sha stone can be nice to rub over the skin, we recommend doing lymphatic strokes over the skin instead of rotating massage movements
Some people find aloe vera very cooling and pleasant.
Keeping your skin care products in the fridge can also be really nice to get a cooling sensation on the skin.
Our face mask Facial powder mask highly recommended because it provides very deep hydration to the skin with colloidal oatmeal and aloe vera, feel free to mix the mask with water and honey and leave it on so that the mask does not dry out the skin.
Avoid in skin care:
- Perfumes of all kinds
- Chemical sun filters
- Strong surfactants (washing active ingredients) e.g. Sodium coco sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate
- Strong preservatives: e.g. triclosan, alcohol, formaldehyde, benzalkonium chloride
- Products with acid-containing ingredients that disrupt the protective fatty acid mantle.
- Peeling is something I think you should avoid, but if you want to peel, it is very important to give the skin all the moisture back in the form of a face mask.
Diet tips:
Because rosacea is an inflammatory disease, many of my clients have had good results by cutting back on inflammatory foods such as gluten, sugar, lactose and dairy. You can always try going without these for two weeks and see what it does to your skin.
We have seen zinc both internally and externally give great results. Zinc helps the body with healing and we take a hit for ours WITHinc Balm which can be used as a course treatment or spot treatment. Very healing and anti-inflammatory.
Keep in mind that lifestyle change can take time and you should have someone who can give you support and encourage you along the way.
A simple skincare routine is usually the best!
There are many different types of organic skin care and some may even contain components that can irritate even the most sensitive skin.
Our products are oil-based and very mildly scented!
If you're interested, you can make your own facial water from strengthening herbs, such as morning glory, which is very good against rosacea.
They can heal small wounds and inflamed skin and can be beneficial for skin infections such as acne. Dagkapa contains tannins, saponins and anti-inflammatory essential oil. Daggkapa also has substances that reduce swelling and are considered to strengthen the skin's elasticity by inhibiting the breakdown of elastin. (Text taken from google)