What is the difference between rosacea and acne rosacea?

What is the difference between rosacea and acne rosacea?

Rosacea is a skin condition that affects the face which can be distressing for the person affected. It can also affect the neck and chest too. Blood vessels dilate and can stay dilated leaving the skin with a flushed, red appearance. Small blood capillaries can be seen on the skins surface. It’s usually fair skinned people that suffer from this condition, which in the past gained it the nickname The Celtic Curse.

What do rosacea and Acne rosacea look like?

Red spots can develop on the cheeks, nose and chin, some taking weeks or longer to subside and in advanced cases can leave the skin, especially on the nose, looking lumpy and bulbous. This is known as acne rosacea, although the spots don’t usually develop pustules on them as acne does. In both conditions, the skin can appear and feel very dry, which makes it difficult to disguise with make-up. The skin is also likely to be sensitive to cosmetic applications, exposure to heat and touch.

What causes rosacea?

There’s a few causes linked to rosacea and acne rosacea. One being over exposure to anything that causes facial flushing, which can cause vascular changes. Blood vessels usually return to normal after dilating, but over exposure can cause damage to the blood vessels. This can be the weather, such as strong winds, sun exposure and regularly moving between different temperatures. Regular vigorous exercise, eating lots of spicy foods and excessive alcohol can cause, or aggravate, rosacea. Fluctuating hormones and hot flushes during peri menopause and menopause can also cause regular facial flushing.

Is rosacea linked to the menopause?

From my personal experience and research on rosacea, hormonal changes (such as peri-menopause) can raise our bodies histamine levels. Histamine is a chemical produced by our bodies and is part of our immune system. Over production of histamine causes us to have allergies. Rosacea has been linked to an allergic reaction to demodex mite feces. Demodex mites naturally live on our skin, although can’t be seen by the human eye. It’s been suggested that Rosacea sufferers could have more Demodex mites than usual.

What other factors can cause rosacea?

More recently gut health has also been linked to rosacea. According to studies, patients with rosacea more often tested positive to an overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut. Therefore, for rosacea sufferers, it’s important to control bacteria overgrowth in the gut and on your skin. This makes sense as much of our immune system is in our gut, so faulty immune system = faulty gut and vice versa. Anti-biotics and anti-bacterial skin products may work short term, but by killing all the bacteria, you’ll also be killing your good bacteria and damaging your microbiome. This leaves the stronger bad bacteria room to return! Taking a good pro-biotic to promote gut health and following a low histamine diet will help, not using anti-bacterial soap and also feeding the good bacteria on your skin will help too.

What skincare products help rosacea?

My Elderflower Skin Tonic and Little Pot of Gold contain a pre-biotic to feed your skins microbiome. Little Pot of Gold also contains Manuka essential oil which is anti- bad bacteria and Sea Buckthorn extract which is beneficial for rosacea. All my skincare products are aimed at providing your skin with the best nutrients and anti-oxidants for skin health, whether or not you have rosacea.