Rosacea is a common skin condition that impacts millions of people worldwide. It’s chronic but treatable with dermatologist care and guidance. Whether you’ve been managing the flare-ups your whole life or have been recently diagnosed, rosacea can impact your day-to-day life and your self-esteem. However, it doesn’t have to — here’s what you need to know about living with rosacea and how to manage it using an integrative approach.
First, it’s important to understand what rosacea is and how it’s diagnosed. From person to person, appearance varies, but there are some consistencies.
While there are four different types of rosacea, the most common sign of rosacea is persistent facial redness or flushing with sensitivity and burning sensation. However, other significant symptoms include visible blood vessels, solid red bumps and pus-filled pimples, skin thickening around the nose, skin swelling, skin dryness, burning, and itching around the face. Another often overlooked symptom is redness and itching or irritation of the eyelids with a “gritty” feeling of the eyes. While these are the most common signs and symptoms, they’re by no means all-inclusive, and it’s important to get an official diagnosis to ensure proper treatment.
Although there isn’t a permanent cure for rosacea, once the skin condition has been identified, you can begin to take the next steps.
Identify Your Personal Triggers
Just like the symptoms themselves, rosacea triggers also vary per person. After a diagnosis, it’s important to figure out what yours are. Common triggers include (but are not limited to): Sun exposure, extreme temperatures, alcohol, spicy foods, intense exercise, and stress.
While we don’t know definitively what causes rosacea, it’s believed that the immune system, cumulative sun exposure, and genetics play a major part.
Manage Flare-Ups by Changing Your Diet
In fact, emerging research highlights a connection between the skin’s microbiome and the gut. While sometimes testing for imbalances can be helpful, increasing your nutrition intake of fruits and vegetables, both in variety and volume, is a great place to start. The dietary shift will improve your intake of important micronutrients, and antioxidants thought to curb flare-ups.
Ensure Proper Skincare
Those who suffer from rosacea will likely also need to switch their skincare routine to something compatible with their rosacea by investing in gentle products that promote the repair of the skin barrier and calm inflammation. Choose non-abrasive cleansers and mineral sunscreens for daily use. These skin care shifts can help avoid irritating the skin further.
Turn to a Professional
Once you control the lifestyle portion of rosacea management, it’s time to turn to the experts. A dermatologist can work with you and your existing knowledge of your unique makeup to create an effective treatment plan.
Depending on your specific symptoms and the frequency, there are both topical and oral medications, as well as a number of light and energy-based devices available to control the redness and reduce bumps and pimples. A combination approach combined with healthy lifestyle habits is often the most successful at controlling symptoms into remission. This integrative approach will be dependent on how you respond to treatments and approaches and will be unique, just like you.
Whether you or a loved one live with rosacea, remember it’s manageable and treatable, and you’re not alone. Take the next step to getting it under control, and give us a call to see how you can take a 360 approach to your skin health: (805) 544-5567.
