Skin Care tips for #Rosacea and Sensitive Skin

1. Cleanse with a gentle cleanser. Avoid foaming or perfumed cleansers which leaves the skin tight. Avoid scrubs. Avoid hot water, hot facials, or steam rooms. Use fingers only to cleanse skin. Avoid heavy fragrances and astringents. Some examples are Bellederm gentle cleanser, Cetaphil, Gentle Cleanser by SkinCeuticals, and Creamy Cleanser by PCA Skin.

2. Reduce redness with an anti-inflammatory and soothing product. There are certain key ingredients to help reduce redness on the skin: algae, aloe vera, chamomile, green tea, panthenol (B5), and borage seed oil are anti-inflammatory and allantoin, cucumber, licorice, and thyme are soothing. If you have bumps from rosacea, prescription azelaic acid 15% can help but may cause stinging sensation.

Avoid strong prescription retinoids and glycolic acid. Keep Vitamin C concentration lower to avoid irritation. Below are examples of calming serums with high quality ingredients.

3. Protect the skin with a physical broad-spectrum sunscreen with minimum SPF of 30 containing zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. Chemical sunscreens may release heat when exposed to UV light which can cause further redness. Some examples are TIZO 2 or 3, SkinMedica Daily Physical Defense, and SkinCeuticals Sheer Physical UV Defense.

4. To further enhance reduction of redness, IPL phototherapy or lasers are effective. Here at Hanami Medspa, we offer IPL phototherapy which run about $200 per treatment. Microdermabrasions and chemical peels may not be suitable for everyone with rosacea so this should be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

I am a board-certified internist and have been treating patients with rosacea for many years. If you are in need of help, please come see me.

Author

Elaine Phuah, DO, MBA, FACOI