When it comes to rosacea treatment, it is not one size fits all!
Depending on your unique case and the severity of your rosacea (Vascular, Papulopustular, Ocular, or Rhinophyma), your skin care physician’s recommended treatment will vary.
Top Treatment for Vascular Rosacea
One of the most common traits of rosacea is flushing or redness of the skin. This stage of rosacea is known as vascular rosacea, and like any stage of rosacea can be triggered by
- Sunlight
- Heat
- Stress
- Smoking
- Alcohol consumption
- Hot and spicy food
For vascular rosacea, common treatments are:
- Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Therapy. IPL is a light therapy that works to correct skin texture and pigmentation by removing damaged cells from the skin, which in turn, promotes your body’s natural healing process. IPL is an effective and popular treatment for rosacea, as it unveils “fresh” skin and offers no downtime.
- Topical medication can also be used to soothe the skin and limit redness by shrinking blood vessels in the affected area. A popular over-the-counter medication is oxymetazoline which is a topical decongestant that when applied, can shrink blood vessels in the nasal passage. This benefits those who seem to get rosacea on and around the nose.
Top treatment for Pustular rosacea
In this stage of rosacea, patients experience pus-filled bumps on the skin that resemble little blisters, or acne. At this stage, it is common for your face to feel warm to touch and itchy.
Common treatments for pustular rosacea are
- Antibiotics, which aim to treat and slow down the growth of bacteria that may be causing your rosacea.
- Scabicide, which is a Scabies medicine. This medication is a topical cream which helps reduce the mite population on your skin. As you may or may not know, we all have mites on our skin known as derma mites, however, those with rosacea are known to have more derma mites on the skin, which in turn causes increased irritation.
Top Treatments for Ocular Rosacea
When rosacea reaches the eyes (ocular rosacea), skin care physician Dr. Shehla Ebrahim recommends making an appointment with an ophthalmologist . Signs that your rosacea has made it to this stage are if your eyes are dry, itchy, red and burning.
Top Treatments for Rhinophyma Rosacea
In severe cases of rosacea, a patient may end up with stage 4 rosacea also known as Rhinophyma Rosacea. During this stage, patients may experience bulging and deformation of the nose. The nose may also be red, itchy, and warm to the touch.
The most common treatment for Rhinophyma Rosacea is laser resurfacing. During this procedure, your skin care physician will use laser technology to remove a thin layer of the epidermis (your skin’s top layer), while gently treating the skin beneath it. Similar to IPL, the heat and light from the laser work to jumpstart your skin’s natural healing process by attracting collagen production to the treated areas.
Takeaways
Depending on the stage and severity of your rosacea, there is a treatment available for you!
Skincare physician Dr. Shehla Ebrahim recommends that you seek treatment upon noticing your first symptoms of rosacea. The longer you wait to seek treatment, the longer it’ll take to get your rosacea under control.
If you are experiencing any signs of rosacea, and are seeking a diagnosis, we invite you to book a consultation with Dr. Shehla Ebrhaim HERE. If you are in the Vancouver area, you can also call 236-878-7002 for an in-person consultation.
Finally, if you are interested in learning more about Rosacea, we invited you to listen to this where Spice Podcast interviewed Dr. Shehla Ebrahim on all things rosacea!