Rosacea Causes, Symptoms and Cures

If you’ve noticed a red flush to your cheeks, visible blood vessels on your skin, or visible red blood vessels that branch across your face, you could be suffering from rosacea (pronounced roh-ZAY-sha), a common skin ailment that, according to the National Rosacea Society, affects about 14 million Americans.

Rosacea mostly affects people over the age of 30 and can be controlled with topical treatments or laser treatments. It’s not life-threatening and many, many people have it (including myself!). Here, we run down the basics.

What are the Signs and Symptoms of Rosacea?

Ruddiness, redness to cheeks, chin, and forehead are common symptoms of rosacea. The redness may come and go and although it appears mostly on the face, it can also show up on the neck, ears and chest.

There are several subtypes of rosacea. In the early stages, cheeks easily flush, or appear constantly sunburned. Visible blood vessels may develop on the skin.

More developed types can involve bumps or pimples on the cheeks. A more severe form is seen mostly in men and shows up as a thickening of skin around the nose (think W.C. Fields and his trademark “bulbous nose”). This is called rhinophyma.

There is no set proof that rosacea worsens, so if you suffer from redness, you won’t necessarily develop a bulbous nose if your rosacea goes untreated.

Who Gets Rosacea?

Research shows rosacea mainly affects people of both sexes over the age of 30. Rosacea also tends to affect people with fair skin. Studies show people of Irish or English descent may be susceptible to rosacea.

Because rosacea is a somewhat mysterious ailment, not many people are aware of it or know they have it. The emotional effects of rosacea can be far worse than the physical effects. In a study reported by the National Rosacea Society, nearly 70 percent of rosacea patients said it lowered their self-confidence and self-esteem. Forty-one percent said the condition caused them to avoid public contact or cancel social engagements.

What Causes Rosacea?

The causes of rosacea are unknown, but several theories abound, including sun damage, blood vessels too near the skin’s surface and ethnicity.

Is There a Cure for Rosacea?

Rosacea can’t be cured, but in most cases it’s easily controlled.

How is Rosacea Treated?

Rosacea can be controlled with topical antibiotics including MetroGel and Rosac and oral antibiotics. Lasers can zap broken blood vessels and treat the overall redness. Better lasers are being developed each year.

To control flare-ups, doctors recommend usage of a broad-spectrum sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB rays (look for sunscreens with Mexoryl or Helioplex).

If you are suffering from rosacea, you should consult a dermatologist for diagnosis and treatment options. A dermatologist can tailor the best treatment for your skin condition.

By Julyne Derrick, About.com Guide

Certain type of acne scars cannot be treated with conventional forms of acne treatment. Acne scars, like ice-pick scars, have rather deep depressions that are sustained even if the acne is treated. Similarly, boxcar acne scarring is rather severe and tends to scar the tissue in a penetrative manner. Such scars need some sort of surface treatment that can camouflage the outline of the scars and reduce their thickened edges. Many dermatologists refer to such deep acne scars as hypertrophic scars. Such scars are best treated with laser-based treatments like laser resurfacing.

Laser Resurfacing Basics

Laser treatments are conducted in many forms. However, they all share a common method, i.e. using laser for treating skin-related problems wherein the penetrative laser beams are used by the attending specialist to heat the skin’s outer and inner layers.

Laser resurfacing is a specialized form of laser treatment. It has a pronounced superficial effect, i.e. it is dedicated towards yielding immediate results by treating the skin’s outer surface. This is perfect for treating acne scars that usually render maximum damage to the outer surface of the skin. The functionality of laser resurfacing can be understood as a combination of inducing healable, minimal skin-wounding, along with a restricted form of abrasion.

Laser resurfacing is an undemanding procedure that is preformed on outpatient basis. It is performed by dermatologists, cosmetic surgeons and plastic surgeons. Lasers beams are essentially beams of infrared light that can penetrate the human skin with ease.

Laser Resurfacing Action on Acne Scars

It is critical that patients contemplating laser resurfacing treatment understand the concept of limited or controlled wounds induced by laser beam. The attending specialist directs the laser beams at chosen spots or the acne scar sites. The laser beam is controlled to an extent that it doesn’t cause widespread damage to the skin. Instead, the intense heat induced by the laser beams gradually breaks through the hardened, top layer or epidermis of the skin overlying the acne scars.

As mentioned, this can be interpreted as minimal skin wounding that is necessary to break through the overlying layer of toughened skin cells to re-initiate the healing process. This is the most important part of the treatment since the typical, unsightly appearance of acne scars is largely attributed to the impacted layer of dead skin cells that don’t allow the underlying, newer skin cells to emerge. The dead skin cells are slowly hardened by surface proteins, such as keratin that acts like a cementing agent. This is why mature acne scars develop typically rough and hardened edges that makes them look like skin lesions.

When the outer layer of acne scars is dispersed, the size of the scarring tissue gets radically reduced. This allows the fresher skin cells to emerge and this neutralizes the hyperpigmentation and wound-like appearance associated with acne scars. Further, the heating induced by the laser beams stimulates the skin’s internal healing mechanism. The intense heat catalyses the renewed formation of skin proteins that is integral for completing the skin’s healing.

Choosing Appropriate Laser Resurfacing

A patient undertaking laser resurfacing should be ready for multiple sessions that might be needed for comprehensively treating acne scars. This niche of laser treatment puts forth certain choices, like ablative laser resurfacing that uses CO2-based laser treatment. The alternative is Pixel Laser Resurfacing that is reputed to be highly undemanding for the patient and needs less sessions.

Taken from SkincareGuide

Darker skin has its own benefits of sun protection and less wrinkles, but it is too sensitive to laser therapies, microdermabrasion, chemical formulations, surgical applications and even cosmetics. Certain skin treatments are reported to lead a person with dark skin to keloids, hyper and hypopigmentation, moles and bumps.

An article lists out tips to tackle dark skin:

1. Use alcohol free cleansers.
2. Cleanse your skin daily to clear it from grime and cosmetics.
3. Certain chemicals that you should avoid are alcohol, dye, fragrances etc.
4. Do not cleanse your skin at regular intervals as it might lead to dryness.
5. Avoid harsh laser treatments or chemical peels.
6. Exfoliate your skin daily.

Take a look at this particular video showing the treatment of teeth whitening on a patient.

If you would like to see more of our fabulous videos ranging from laser treatments, lip filler treatments, botox , peels and much more then visit our YouTube channel at:

http://www.youtube.com/traceybellchannel

If you would like to know any more information on Laser hair removal visit our website at:

http://www.traceybell.co.uk/

The most commonly used ablative lasers are the carbon dioxide CO2 or erbium YAG where the upper layers of the skin are removed to smooth fine lines and wrinkles, for scar revision and to treat irregular skin pigmentation.

The CO2 laser is used to treat deeper lines and wrinkles and can be used on the whole face including around the eye (peri-orbital) area or around the mouth (peri-oral) area, it takes off the top layer of skin to reveal the new skin underneath.

The Techno Beauty Blast™ combination chemical and erbium YAG laser peel is a treatment that can be done once for a refreshed look or 3 sessions over 3 months for optimum results and the effects are long lasting allowing for natural ageing, as long as sun protection is used, along with a good skin maintenance regime.

A topical local anaesthetic will normally be applied to the area first for patient comfort.

The erbium YAG is also used in minimally ablative skin re-surfacing for fine to moderate lines and wrinkles.

The treatments can take between 30 minutes and an hour and the recovery time is 2-3 weeks

Lite Peel
The Lite Peel involves:

• Pixel laser

• Erbium Yag

• Age Management Peel A rejuvenating Pixel laser peel harnesses the effects of thermal dynamic energy coupled with mild micro beam ablation for subtle yet revitalising results.

This combination treatment sees the effects of the Erbium Yag laser, coupled with the Age Management Peel. The peel is tailored to visibly reduce the signs of ageing by stimulating cell turnover and tightening skin tissue by removing unwanted dead skin cells to improve tone. The skin is fully prepared which is essential for excellent overall results when using the latest laser technology.

If you would like to know any more information about laser treatments or any other treatments we offer at Tracey Bell, visit our website at:

http://www.traceybell.co.uk/