Diffused Redness or Rosacea

What is Rosacea / Diffused Redness

The clinical term Rosacea or Diffused Redness is facial redness and sometimes may look like small breakouts that occurs mostly in middle-aged men and women. The cause of Rosacea is unknown. It is a disease of the sebaceous glands our oil glands. It affects people mainly in the 30’s and 40’s, especially those with fair skin or a paler skin type.

With Rosacea, the skin of the face and in particular the cheeks and nose tends to flush or go red easily and over time becomes permanently red. Thread veins may appear in the same sites and in pustular Rosacea (formerly known as Acne Rosacea) spots and pimples appear too. The condition is aggravated by over production of oil from sebaceous glands, hormonal changes, sun exposure, UVA & UVB, stress, climatic changes and some foods such as coffee, spicy foods and alcohol. Most clients are keen to improve the appearance by treating any pimple spots and reducing the redness and thread veins. Rosacea can be improved and controlled. This condition generally gets worse if it goes untreated, causing more redness, more pimples and more visible thread veins. Rosacea can be treated but may not be cured. Severe cases will require oral or topical antibiotics prescribed by your doctor.

Rosacea treatment includes two different applications of laser treatment on visible veins and a second applicator to reduce redness in combination with products to protect the skin i.e. broad-spectrum sunscreen and antioxidants. Recurrent flushing and blushing is present and late in the disease, the nose may be enlarged with thick red skin, a condition known as “rhinophyma”. Enlargement of the nose is more common in males. Also, along with thicker skin, the oil glands of the face enlarge and are more active giving an oily appearance. Rosacea is often accompanied by other features and symptoms such as breakouts, redness-erythema, red bulbous nose, acne like eruption and a heat like burning sensation.

Stages of Rosacea

First Stage – Redness: The cheeks or forehead appear to have a mild redness or sunburn. The redness is caused by dilation of the blood vessels in the skin, which allow more blood to flow and pool under the surface of the skin.

Second Stage – Breakouts: The next stage breakouts may appear on the face. The types of breakouts are seen in people with Rosacea differ from acne, which are characterised by blackheads or whiteheads. In Rosacea the pimples appear as small red and solid or pus filled. A characteristic symptom of Rosacea is dilated blood vessels that become visible under the surface of the skin.