What Causes Rosacea?

Experiencing a skin condition like Rosacea can often have a significant impact on social and emotional wellbeing. 

It’s important to remember that you are not alone, and there are many things you can do to regain control of your skin.

Explore the key known causes and triggers behind Rosacea-prone skin below, so you can begin your journey to healthy and restored skin.

Our answer to healing Rosacea-affected skin is the Atopis Radiant Balance Cream – a steroid-free and 100% organic cream that combats rosacea symptoms; reducing redness, evens out skin tone, and calms inflammatory response. 

What Is Rosacea? 

Rosacea is a chronic, common inflammatory skin condition that presents as redness of the face. 

Here’s a short video that explores What Causes Rosacea:

Symptoms:

Most of those dealing with Rosacea tend to present with the following symptoms:

 • Flushing – rapid reddening and warmth to the face, neck, and chest

 • Hyper-reactive skin – Skin that is incredibly reactive to changes in the skin’s environment

 • Persistent redness – usually around the cheeks and forehead

 • Pimples, papules, and pustules – can resemble acne (without the presence of blackheads)

 • Inflamed blood vessels – can visibly see the capillaries in the affected areas of the skin

 • Excess skin around the nose – this is one of the more uncommon symptoms and tends to affect males more than females.

 

Triggers:

Rosacea Causes - Drinking

All of the different Rosacea subtypes share similar triggers, these include:

• Excessive consumption of alcohol

• Some foods – particularly spicy food or dairy products

• Caffeine – coffee, tea, and other hot drinks

• Stress – emotional stress can lead to Rosacea flare-ups

• Heat & humidity – high temperatures and humidity levels can trigger Rosacea

• Extremely cold temperatures – cold air is harsh on the skin and can cause flare-ups

• Hot showers/baths or saunas – hot showers and facial steaming can also cause Rosacea to flare-up

 

Types:

The four main types of rosacea include:

• Erythematotelangiectatic Rosacea
People with this type experience redness and flushing with the blood vessels becoming visible – sometimes looking like tiny spider webs.

• Papulopustular Rosacea
Often confused with acne, this type of rosacea presents as redness and swelling with breakouts that resemble teenage acne. Unlike acne, no blackheads appear with this skin condition.

• Phymatous Rosacea
Skin with a thick and bumpy texture is indicative of this type of rosacea.

• Ocular Rosacea
If you are experiencing redness and irritation in your eyes, and/or swollen eyelids,  you may have this type. You may have a burning sensation in one or both eyes, which may also appear bloodshot.

While there are more types of Rosacea, these four are the most common. Another condition to note is Steroid Rosacea, which can be a result of long-term use of corticosteroids. Be sure to limit the use of steroidal skin treatments wherever possible.

How Is Rosacea Different From Other Skin Conditions?

The condition is often mistaken for acne or eczema, but in fact is a distinct skin condition. It’s important to know what skin condition you are experiencing, as the conditions are not treated the same way.

This is the case with eczema and rosacea – steroidal treatments, which are often prescribed for those dealing with eczema, can actually make rosacea symptoms worse. In fact, using potent topical steroids can even cause steroid rosacea. 

Below are the key differences between rosacea and other common skin conditions: 

• Acne – Acne tends to appear on the face and sometimes the back. Acne tends to be most prevalent in our teens, and for females that get hormonal breakouts around menstruation.

Rosacea, on the other hand, generally affects those aged 30 to 60. Another key difference is blackheads, which are indicative of acne. 

• Eczema – Eczema tends to affect young children and improves with age, while rosacea kicks in around 30 years.

Additionally, eczema rashes mainly appear in the skin folds – e.g. behind the knees and inside of the elbows. Rosacea generally only appears on the face, and sometimes the neck, back, and ears. 

• Psoriasis – Psoriasis flare-ups tend to be triggered by skin injuries or infections (particularly streptococcal infections), while temperature extremes or even spicy food can trigger a rosacea flare-up.

Like rosacea, psoriasis is characterized by changes in skin texture – however, rosacea appears as red patches whilst scaling and white flakes indicate psoriasis.

Managing Rosacea Skin

Unfortunately, there is currently no known cure for those dealing with rosacea – the symptoms are simply managed.

Here are some things you can do to help manage your symptoms:

• Avoid touching problem areas on the skin – Rosacea-prone skin is hyperactive, and touching can cause blood vessels to dilate

• Protect the skin from harsh weather conditions – Wear a scarf during winter, and remember to slip, slop, slap and wrap during Summer Rosacea Symptoms Treatment

• Avoid topical steroids – Although this may help in the short-term with facial redness, use of potent topical steroids can actually trigger steroid rosacea

• Moisturise – especially in the affected areas

• Limit alcohol consumption – alcohol can aggravate rosacea

 

The faulty peptide

The normal function of the cathelicidin peptide is to control vasodilation (blood flow) of the skin and to inhibit the growth of bad bacteria.

For those with rosacea, the cathelicidin peptide is present at much higher concentrations and has a different molecular structure, meaning the peptide no longer functions normally.

An overabundance of the defective peptide induces over-dilation of the blood vessels – which is what causes the intense redness of rosacea skin.

This defective peptide also fails to inhibit the bad bacteria on the skin. This results in skin infections and activates the immune system into an inflammatory mode. The skin enters a hyperreactive state which means it overreacts to normal environmental stimuli such as sunlight, food, drink, and temperature.

Other contributing factors:

Further research into the symptoms of rosacea has determined that those with rosacea have a hyper-reactive sympathetic nervous system that overreacts to environmental triggers. This results in the blood vessels rapidly dilating causing intense reddening of the skin.

The immune system of those with rosacea is also hyperreactive and overreacts to environmental triggers, which develops inflammation of the skin and causes redness, swelling and potentially pain.

To make matters worse there is often an overpopulation of microscopic mites which carry bacteria that irritate the skin, and potentially cause skin infections due to the impaired cathelicidin peptide.  

These mites and their bacteria then further aggravate the sensitive skin and trigger the immune system to overreact and thus a vicious cycle is perpetuated.

How Atopis Can Reduce Your Rosacea Symptoms

 

The Atopis Radiant Balance Cream is the world’s first facial moisturizer developed to break out of the rosacea cycle.

Having dealt with rosacea herself, award-winning Kiwi scientist Dr. Iona Weir decided to develop a natural solution to help others break out of the rosacea cycle. Here’s how it works:

1. Treats the symptoms
The peptides and flavonoids in Radiant Balance work to inhibit over-vasodilation of the blood vessels, and to reduce redness.

2. Inhibits bad bacteria
By mimicking the anti-microbial cathelicidin of your skin, the peptide inhibits bad bacteria, stopping those nasty infections that keep you stuck in the rosacea cycle.

3. Reduces overreactions to environmental triggers
Other peptilipids within the cream work to calm the immune system and heal the skin.

Radiant Balance contains an equivalent peptide to normal functioning cathelicidin, meaning that the faulty peptide in rosacea skin can function normally. As this is the peptide that controls blood flow to the skin and inhibits bad bacteria, the redness associated with rosacea is reduced.

 

Learn More About Radiant Balance Cream