Rosacea Treatment
What is rosacea?
Rosacea is a skin condition that is due to inflammation of parts of the face. Symptoms include facial flushing, facial redness, spots, eye problems and thickening of the skin. Not all symptoms occur in all cases.
Rosacea affects about 1 in 10 people in the UK, usually in middle or later life. Spots can usually be cleared with antibiotic treatment and Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatment can help with the spots and also the redness.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms of rosacea include one or more of the following:
- Frequent flushing of the face.
- Persistent redness (erythema) of the face.
- Lumpy red spots (papules) and small cysts (pustules) on the face. The spots and cysts look similar to acne.
- Eye symptoms occur in more than half of cases, although they are often mild. They can include: a 'feeling' of something in the eye, burning or stinging, dryness, itching, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, eyelid cysts and styes, and eyelid inflammation (blepharitis). Inflammation of the cornea (the front of the eye) is an uncommon but serious complication for which you must seek medical attention.
- Telangiectasia on the face. These are tiny blood vessels under the skin which you can see and can become quite prominent on the face.
- Thickening of the skin occurs in some cases.
The symptoms on the face are usually just on the central part of the face - on the forehead, cheeks, nose, around the mouth and chin. Other areas of skin on the head are sometimes affected.
Who gets rosacea?
Up to 1 in 10 people in the UK are thought to develop rosacea. Symptoms may first appear in your early 20s but usually do not start until aged 30-60. Rarely, it affects children. Women are more commonly affected than men. However, rosacea is often less severe in women than in men. Rosacea is more common in fair-skinned than dark-skinned people.
What causes rosacea?
The cause is not known. It is thought that a number of factors may be involved. For example, leaky damaged capillaries, sun damage, local skin bacteria and abnormal immune reactions in the skin which leads to inflammation.
What are the treatments for rosacea?
There is no permanent cure for rosacea. There is nothing you can do to prevent rosacea from starting. However, treatments can ease symptoms.
General measures
Avoid strong sunlight to the face. Sunlight is thought to make symptoms worse. Use a sun-block cream on the face with a high protection factor (15 or higher and with UVA and UVB protection).
Treatment for facial flushing
There is no medicine that can prevent flushing. However, some people find that certain things aggravate the skin and make the flushing worse. The most common things reported are: extremes of temperature (in particular excessive heat), alcoholic drinks, strenuous exercise, stressful situations, sunlight, spicy food, hot drinks. If any of these seem to make the flushing worse then avoiding them is sensible. Some medicines used for other conditions may also trigger flushing. If you suspect a medicine is making the flushing worse, then discuss this with your doctor.
Facial redness (erythema) and telangiectasia (tiny blood vessels) and facial spots can be treated with IPL
Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatment for rosacea
At Icon Cosmetic Clinic rosacea, facial redness (erythema), telangiectasia (tiny blood vessels) and facial spots can be treated with Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatment ... Read more about IPL for rosacea >>