What is rosacea?
Rosacea is a skin disease that is still a bit of an unknown. However, what can be explained is that the patients suffering from rosacea have reddish, swollen skin with lesions similar to those from acne (papules and pustules); and it is for this reason that previously it used to be called acne rosacea.
What causes rosacea?
This is a question that is still unanswered. We know that the patients suffering from rosacea have a skin slightly hotter than normal with dilated veins. Heat dilates the veins and, at the same time, the dilated veins generate heat. This heat on the skin increases the growth and development of an organism called Demodex Folliculorum that will be present in a large number of patients suffering from rosacea.
This organism will clog the pores of the skin on the face because they feed from the fat and the waste that comes out of them. The clogging of the pores helps the bacteria to develop and the lesions similar to acne to appear.
Is rosacea related to another illness?
A large percentage of patients with rosacea might suffer from gastrointestinal issues such as esophagitis and gastritis caused by the presence of the Helicobacter Pylori bacteria. Only in these cases will rosacea improve or even disappear when the Helicobacter Pylori is eliminated.
How can you avoid rosacea breakouts?
Rosacea, even though it is a chronic disease and the patients are always red, has acute periods that are related to the patient’s eating and drinking habits or external events that could cause the dilation of the veins.
For this reasons patients suffering from rosacea should avoid all these triggering factors. Some rosacea triggers could be: milk products, alcoholic drinks (especially red wine) and exposure to extreme heat (saunas, steam baths, heaters and/or hot weather).
How is rosacea treated?
Even though rosacea can not be cured, the treatments will decrease the breakouts of the lesions similar to acne, will make them less swollen and especially will prevent the rhinophyma (a type of secondary nose deformation that develops when chronic rosacea is not treated).
Treatments should fight the Demodex Folliculorum, and this is done using an antiparasitic medication either in a gel or a cream form with metronidazole or ivermectin. We can also use creams or gels to decrease the erythema and the lesions that look like acne. Some times antibiotics are required. For extreme cases a dermatologist needs to prescribe isotretinoin.
At Skin Blossom we provide PULSED LIGHT treatment to help improve the rosacea symptoms. When you use this treatment the size of the dilated veins will decrease and, as a result, the reddish colour will decrease and the Demodex Folliculorum and the breakouts of the lesions similar to acne will disappear for several years. 4-6 sessions are required.
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