How to Heal Rosacea?

Rosacea is a common skin condition that affects between 0.5 percent to 10 percent of the population, leaving people searching for rosacea treatment options. It commonly develops during teenage years or someone’s 20s and then can become worse into the 30s or 40s. The cause of rosacea is still not entirely understood, though there are many contributing factors.

Meanwhile, the belief in modern medicine is that there’s no real cure for rosacea, and once affected by this condition, someone is likely to experience flare-ups on and off for the rest of his or her life.

While some people might struggle to control their rosacea symptoms from reappearing, many more are able to clear up their skin for good by making certain changes to their lifestyles — and also possibly taking medications at the same time. As you’ll learn, even if you’ve tried several lotions, creams and pills before with no success, there are many holistic steps you can take to help prevent rosacea from causing painful or embarrassing redness, breakouts and irritations.

Most people equate rosacea with having a red, “flushed” face, but for most people the symptoms go beyond this. Depending on the type of rosacea, people might experience symptoms including:

• Redness in the face, especially toward the center in the cheeks and nose

• “Spider veins,” which are visible broken blood vessels

• Swelling and painful skin

• Sensitive skin that easily reacts to the sun, skin care products, feeling hot or sweating

• Stinging and burning in the skin

• Dry, rough, itchy or scaly skin

• Easily blushing when embarrassed

• Acne-like breakouts and overly oily skin

• Large, visible and inflamed pores

• Raised patches of skin called plaques

• Bumpy texture to the skin

• Parts of the skin that thicken, especially common around the nose (but also can appear on the chin, forehead, cheeks and ears)

• Sensitivity of skin around the eyes, including watery or bloodshot appearance, redness, dryness, stinging, itching, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, cysts, and pain

Rosacea can start out as a small rash or patch of bumps or redness, before spreading and becoming more intense. The condition isn’t contagious, and oftentimes, symptoms can come and go depending on how stressed and run-down you feel, whether or not you’ve been spending lots of time in the sun, and if your diet is triggering any autoimmune reactions.

There are actually four different types of rosacea, although some people will have symptoms from more than one subtype at a time. The four types of rosacea are:

• Subtype 1 (erythematotelangiectatic rosacea): characterized by facial redness, flushing, visible blood vessels (the most common subtype)

• Subtype 2 (papulopustular rosacea): characterized by acne-like breakouts and sensitivity (most common among middle-aged women), alongside persistent redness, bumps (papules) and/or pimples (pustules) that can be frequent

• Subtype 3 (phymatous rosacea): characterized by swelling, fluid retention (edema), thickening skin (especially around the nose, or rhinophyma), redness and various symptoms from other subtypes

• Subtype 4 (ocular rosacea): characterized by rosacea around the eyes

Some of the ways that rosacea is commonly treated, include:

• Changing your diet to remove any allergies, sensitives or common gut irritants

• Using skin care products that are natural that heal and strengthen the skin

• Being careful to always wear sunscreen, which helps prevent irritation from UV light, redness and flare-ups

• Having treatments such as IPL Laser, LED Light Therapy and Microdermabraision

• Avoiding excess heat for external sources such as hot showers, saunas and spas and excessively hot food

• Avoiding chilli and hot spicy foods

• Avoiding alcohol that causes a flush to the skin such as red wine, whiskey etc

• Avoid caffeine drinks

Causes

Rosacea is a type of skin inflammation. Medical experts still don’t know exactly the series of reactions that causes rosacea to develop, but since it seems to be triggered by heightened inflammation levels and an overactive immune system to some extent, following an anti-inflammatory diet helps many people control the severity of their symptoms.

In order to get closer to understanding the causes of rosacea, you must ask what causes inflammation, the underlying cause of rosacea, in the first place? A number of factors likely contribute to the development of rosacea, including:

• problems with blood vessels in the skin

• sun damage/UV radiation that produces vascular changes — researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine concluded that exposure to the ultraviolet (UV) radiation in sunlight spurred the production of vascular endothelial growth factor, a substance that is linked to the development of visible blood vessels (telangiectasia)

• inflammation/abnormal inflammatory reactions within the skin’s connective tissue

• demodex, a microscopic mite that is a normal inhabitant of human facial skin — “evidence appears to be mounting that an overabundance of Demodex may possibly trigger an immune response in people with rosacea, or that the inflammation may be caused by certain bacteria associated with the mites” — in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, demodex was found in 15 to 18 times greater numbers in rosacea patients than in healthy subjects

• reactions and side effects to certain medications

• subtypes of rosacea seem to have a genetic factor and might run in families

• people who have light, sensitive skin and light eyes are more likely to have rosacea (including those with northern or western European descent); in fact, some reports show that only around 4 percent of rosacea patients are of African, Latino or Asian descent, yet in European countries like Sweden around 10 percent of all adults have rosacea

• it’s also seen more commonly in women than in men (with some reports showing that three times as many women suffer from rosacea than men)

1. Identify Any Triggers in Your Diet

Since rosacea already makes skin sensitive, many people find that simply addressing the noticeable symptoms — for example, by using harsh chemical creams, prescriptions, toxic lotions — actually winds up making skin symptoms even worse. Many experts recommend thinking rosacea as a “whole-body problem” as opposed to just one of the skin. Inflammation stemming from gut-related problems seems to be an especially important issue and root cause of skin disorders.

Your skin is ultimately a reflection of your overall health, after all: how well you digest nutrients, if you have any sensitivities or allergies, how well-balanced your hormone levels are, if you’re getting enough sleep, etc.

Many studies have found an association between skin disorders — including rosacea, acne, dermatitis and psoriasis — and inflammatory gastrointestinal tract disorders. An overactive immune system that causes autoimmune reactions is a likely contributor to both skin and digestive disorders, including leaky gut syndrome, Crohn’s disease and Celiac disease.

People who suffer from these disorders show heightened levels of immunoreactive neurons within their tissues and blood vessels that cause inflammation to progress. This inflammation has the power to change the structure of microbial (bacteria) populations that normally colonize the skin and protect it from damage, redness and rashes.

Since inflammation that shows up on your skin can be a clue that you’re experiencing inflammation within your gut, identifying food triggers is an important first step. The best way to tackle rosacea at its root is likely to approach your diet differently; focusing on anti-inflammatory foods and removing common allergens (at least temporarily to track reactions) can make a huge impact on skin disorders by positively affecting gut health and getting rid of yeast and bad bacteria.

The foods you want to avoid if you have rosacea include:

• Anything that causes allergies — If you have any food allergies or sensitivities that are going unnoticed, this can contribute to leaky gut syndrome, which kicks off autoimmune reactions. Some common allergens include gluten, nuts, shellfish/seafood, dairy or eggs (but allergies can really be caused by any food, such as nightshade vegetables, a type of stone fruit, citrus, FODMAPs, etc.).

• Alcohol and caffeine — Coffee, other caffeinated drinks and alcohol seem to worsen some people’s rosacea symptoms, especially redness and flushing. This differs from person to person, but it’s worth seeing if your symptoms improve when you cut back on both.

• Sugar and processed foods — Sugar is known to worsen inflammation, increase oxidative stress, irritate the gut lining and aggravate skin disorders. Added sugar is found in a high percentage of processed, packaged foods, along with artificial sweeteners/ingredients, preservatives and texture stabilizers that can kick off allergic reactions.

• Conventional dairy products — Many people find that eliminating conventional cow’s dairy (including yogurt, cheese, milk, ice cream, etc.) helps decrease skin-related symptoms.

• Fried foods, trans fats and hydrogenated oils — Refined vegetable oils that are high in omega-6s are pro-inflammatory. These include corn, soybean, safflower, sunflower and canola oils. Fried foods are also hard on the digestive system and can aggravate gut damage.

2. Use Natural Moisturisers and Cosmetic Products

Clinical assessments observing the skin’s barrier and hydration levels indicate that moisturising rosacea-prone skin can help restore the skin’s barrier. When patients regularly cleaned and moisturised dry, rough, patchy skin, they found that noticeable symptoms, discomfort and overall sensitivity of skin improved.

It might be tempting to avoid using moisturizer on your skin if you have oily, red or sensitive patches and are also prone to acne breakouts, but a non-chemical and natural skin moisturisers can provide essential moisturisation to the skin without causing breakouts or further irritations.

Wild plants a, essential oils and natural botanicals are rich in natural oils and healing nutrients are commonly used to treat skin diseases around the world and have been the go-to methods for treating skin problems for centuries. Natural rosacea treatment products tend to be less irritating and are also heal and strengthen the skin. It is essential to have a skin care routine to protect the skin and calm down the inflammation.

3. Wear Sunscreen

Anyone with rosacea-type symptoms, or any form of regular redness on the skin, should be careful about regularly using sunscreen on sensitive areas of the skin (especially the face). UV light seems to aggravate rosacea symptoms and can cause inflammation that is linked to its onset.

Studies show that daily skin care regimens, including the use of a sunscreen, offers significant benefits against flare-ups. While getting exposure to the sun is important for vitamin D production within your skin, it’s best to keep your face well-protected.

The sun is considered one of the most strongly aggravating factors of rosacea, according to some studies. Just be careful about the sunscreen you choose, since studies show many sunscreens are toxic and therefore can make symptoms even worse.

If you do want to try to cover up your rosacea with cosmetics because you feel self-conscious, just be careful since many commercial makeup products can further aggravate rosacea symptoms. Buying gentle and organic cosmetics limits the amount of harsh chemicals you put on your sensitive skin. My recommendation is to use a natural mineral powder on your skin as a foundation.

4. Vitamins and Supplements

Many supplements and essential oils can help fight inflammation. Herbal remedies offer a safe and effective way to treat different kinds of skin diseases, even for sensitive skin, which is why they’ve been used in places like India, Asia and Australia for thousands of years.

Even today, more than 80 percent of people in India depend on traditional health care treatments and use various plant-based products for treating skin-related problems! Many natural plant extracts, spices and herbs do more than just lower red, inflamed breakouts. They can also be effective for fighting bacterial growth, yeast, fungus, signs of aging, wrinkles, stretch marks and hyperpigmentation.

They seem to help speed up circulation and, therefore, wound healing by improving blood flow to the effected area, reducing the presence of bacteria that can aggravate skin and preventing cell death of healthy cells.

Some of the best essential oils and supplement rosacea treatments for reducing skin inflammation include:

• Turmeric

• Ginger

• Aloe vera gel (used topically on the skin)

• Raw honey (used topically on the skin)

• Essential oils: Tea tree, lavender, eucalyptus, geranium, chamomile, rose, rosemary and thyme essential oils have all been found to fight skin inflammation and help treat sensitive skin. To treat the area, simply rub three drops of oil on three times daily mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil. Always combine these with a carrier oil (including coconut or jojoba oil), and apply to the affected area no more than twice daily. Perform a skin patch test first, and then start gradually to test results, making sure you don’t experience an allergic reaction.

5. Manage Stress Levels

Aside from all of the physical symptoms that rosacea can cause, many people also feel mentally and emotionally challenged by this skin condition. A high percentage of rosacea sufferers report feeling less confident due to their appearance.

Ongoing facial blotchiness, bumps and redness can be really hard to handle emotionally (similarly to suffering from acne), but unfortunately stressing over the condition is only likely to make it worse.

Similarly to acne breakouts, stress is known to be a common trigger of rosacea that can bring on flare-ups. Try your best to control stress in your life for two reasons: first because stress makes autoimmune reactions and inflammation even worse, and secondly because you’re likely already under enough added stress when dealing with a rosacea flare-up. Remember that you can’t always completely avoid symptoms appearing and shouldn’t feel guilty if flare-ups still occur.

At the same time, you’re also not totally helpless and likely have a lot of control over how severe your symptoms get, so try to focus on feeling empowered instead of embarrassed and find natural stress relievers in your life.

Educate yourself about the disorder, learn more about rosacea treatments and be open-minded to trying new approaches in order to help you feel more in control. Use stress-reducing techniques like exercise, meditation, healing prayer and journaling to try to soothe yourself as much as possible.