How common is rosacea?

Rosacea (roh-ZAY-sha) is a common long-term skin condition that healthcare providers frequently treat.

While acne affects up to 50 million Americans annually, rosacea affects more than 14 million Americans.

Acne is most commonly found among:

• Teens
• Adult women (often on chins and jaws)
• Adult men (often on backs)

Some types of acne are linked with an increased risk of rosacea.

While rosacea:

• Primarily affects women over age 30 who are fair-skinned. They often have blonde hair and blue eyes and are of Celtic or Scandinavian ancestry.
• People of color also have rosacea. Their signs and symptoms may be different from those of fair-skinned individuals. For example, racially diverse individuals may experience yellowish-brown hard bumps around their rosacea-affected areas. They may have dry, swollen skin and patches of darker skin. They may also have areas of skin discoloration.

What skin condition closely resembles rosacea?

The National Rosacea Society found that 95 percent of rosacea patients knew little or nothing about rosacea’s signs and symptoms before their diagnosis.

Rosacea is often confused with acne. Both acne and rosacea can cause redness, pimples, and pus-filled bumps on your face, neck, chest, or back. However, acne redness tends to be located just around the blisters, while rosacea covers a larger area. Acne also features more blackheads and clogged pores than rosacea. In comparison, the presence of enlarged blood vessels is unique to rosacea.

Can rosacea affect your eyes?

Ocular rosacea may also affect your eyes. Your eyes may:

• Feel like they are burning and tearing
• Become red and inflamed
• Sense that a foreign object is in your eye

What triggers rosacea?

We experience acne when tiny holes in the skin, called hair follicles, become blocked. Excessive oil, bacteria, and dead skin cells often block these hair follicles in the case of acne. Hormone changes that increase sebum levels and mental health concerns can also contribute to acne.

Everyone with rosacea has unique rosacea triggers. Not all of these may apply to your rosacea. And you may experience other triggers too.

By becoming more mindful of your rosacea flaring triggers, you can create a list of stressors, activities, foods, cosmetics, and medications to avoid so you can reduce your risk of rosacea. Rosacea may be triggered by:

• Mental Health: stress, anxiety, and depression
• Weather: sun exposure, hot or cold weather, humidity, strong winds
• Temperature: hot or cold showers, saunas, hot tubs, simple overheating, and excessively warm environments
• Intense workouts
• Your immune system
• Foods and Beverages: alcoholic beverages, thermally hot drinks, spicy food, marinated meat, citrus fruits, bananas, red plums, raisins, figs, yogurt, sour cream, cheese (cottage cheese may be tolerable by your body), chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, spices, peppers, soy sauce, yeast extract (bread may be acceptable by your body), vinegar, eggplant, avocados, spinach, and tomatoes
• Some medications
• Certain cosmetics

How is rosacea diagnosed?

No medical tests can tell if you have rosacea. Your BB Aesthetic professional may help you diagnose rosacea by asking questions about your medical history and examining your skin and eyes.

Before diagnosing you with rosacea, your healthcare provider may want to ensure that you do not have other medical conditions. Acne, allergic reactions, lupus, and scalp dermatitis can be confused with rosacea. Medical tests can help rule out diseases like lupus and allergic skin reactions.

If your rosacea involves your eyes, your specialist may refer you to an ophthalmologist to examine your vision and eyes.

Why is sunscreen important for rosacea?

Excessive sun exposure causes 90 percent of visible skin changes such as lines, wrinkles, and dullness. People with rosacea may have skin that is quite sensitive to the sun. Sun exposure can trigger rosacea flareups and worsen your rosacea in the short and long term.

Ultraviolet rays may heat the skin and cause redness and increased blood flow to the skin. When constantly exposed to the sun, the tips of your blood vessels may permanently expand, leading to red, fine lines on the surface of your skin.

The degree to which the sun aggravates rosacea depends on the type of rosacea and the duration of exposure to the sun’s rays. Each of us is affected differently by the sun.   

BB Aesthetic offers various solutions to help protect your skin from the sun. Many BB Aesthetic sun protectors guard you against UVA and UVB rays, blue light, pollution, and infrared radiation. They also offer 80-minute of water resistance.

• Total Defense + Repair Broad Spectrum Sunscreen SPF 50+ to defend against harmful rays, reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, improve the appearance of sun-damaged skin, and support the skin’s ability to restore itself.
• sunbetter SHEER SPF 56 Sunscreen Stick for weightless, transparent sun protection.
• sunbetter SHEER SPF 56 Sunscreen Compact for smooth, elegant, weightless, transparent protection with a silky formula and elegant compact.
• Sunscreen + Primer SPF 30 protects against the damaging effects of rays and HEV-light. The primer also hydrates and primes your make-up to diminish skin imperfections.
• Daily Sheer Broad-Spectrum SPF 50 for a non-greasy formula with a sheer, matte finish that is water and perspiration-resistant.

How is rosacea treated?

Your BB Aesthetic professional will offer treatments to help you:

• Reduce or eliminate signs of rosacea.
• Ease your discomfort.
• Identify the triggers that cause your rosacea to flare so you can avoid these stressors, activities, foods, cosmetics, and medications.
• Prevent rosacea from becoming worse.

Many rosacea treatments include creams or gels to apply to your affected skin for results within 12 hours.

The Sciton Laser treatment will help you stay forever clear without the use of medications and the need for downtime to recover. Most patients can apply make-up and resume normal activities immediately.

During your initial consultation with your BB Aesthetic professional, you will also learn more about the Sciton Laser treatment and if the treatment is a match for you. The different colored lights eliminate bacteria, reduce inflammation, and help initiate your body’s natural healing process.

Although the most common treatments are on the face, neck, and back, the laser can treat most parts of your body. The non-invasive laser treatment can take as little as 15 minutes, depending on the area you are looking to treat. You can expect to see improvement after just one treatment.

Treatments affect each of us uniquely. We also need to consider the area and the type of rosacea. So the treatment time and the total number of treatments can vary from patient to patient.

To learn more about rosacea, assess if you have rosacea, and stay forever young and clear with personalized recommendations, schedule a consultation today with your BB Aesthetic professional.