What Is Rosacea and What Are The Symptoms?
Rosacea is a skin disease that tends to affect people between the ages of 30-50 years. The precise cause of rosacea is not fully understood, although there are various related factors such as family history, bacteria and abnormaility in the facial blood vessels and triggers such as exposure to sunlight, spicy food and stress.
Rosacea primarily affects teh face with varying degrees of severity.One of the main symptoms is redness of the face which is caused by tiny blood vessels under the surface of the skin dilating and becoming visible.The redness can often be aggravated by facial flushing, another common symptom. Episodes of flushing are sometimes followed by facial redness than can come and go, but may be persistent.The permanent redness can sometimes be confused with sunburn. These visible blood vessels mostly appear on the cheeks and nose and look like fine red lines.
Another consequence of flushing is facial swelling due to increased blood flow. When the blood vessels dilate they become leaky causing extra fluid to accumulate in the tissues faster than the lymphatic system can remove it. As swelling is usually as a result of flushing, if the flushing is controlled, then the swelling is also controlled.
Facial flushing and redness can be controlled by avoiding common triggers such as certain foods, and by using anti-inflammatory creams or gels.Why not try and use a cool pack on your face to reduce the redness.
Another unpleasant symptom of rosacea is irritated eyes. The eyes feeling like they are burning, stinging, itchy, dry and sensitive to light as well as looking bloodshot and watery. This is known as ocular rosacea. Other problems such as cysts, styes and inflammation to the eyelid may also be experienced.In the severest of cases there is a possibility of corneal damage and loss of vision. Treatment normally consists of good eye hygiene, eye drops, antibiotics and warm compresses over the eyes. Another treatment that may be useful is to place cold cucumber slices over the eyes. Cucumber not only contains beneficial vitamins and minerals, but is also cooling and soothing.
Finally, we come to rhinophyma, often referred to as whisky nose, an uncommon symptom of rosacea.This is when the nose becomes enlarged, bulbous and bumpy looking. Unfortunately, this condition is often associated with alcoholism, but can also be a result of untreated rosacea. Rhinophyma is a slowly developing disease that mostly affects older men. The only options for treatment are surgery or laser treatments.
Thankfully rosacea doesn’t cause scarring, unlike acne, but it can be an unpleasant and embarrassing condition all the same.By knowing what the symptoms of rosacea are, you will be able to choose the most appropriate treatment.
For more information about rosacea symptoms and rosacea remedies, visit my Clear Skin Guide website.
