Manage Lifestyle to Avoid Rosacea & Flushing Triggers

Lifestyle Management

While you treat the visible symptoms of rosacea and flushing it is vitally important to treat the cause. As we have mentioned earlier in this site, it is important to keep a ‘Rosacea/Flushing’ diary to log the possible causes that trigger these out breaks or flare-ups. This will enable you to plan and modify your lifestyle to avoid these causes which will both prevent you developing rosacea or significantly speed up the healing process if you already have it. Lifestyle management will include changing your diet and avoiding or protecting yourself from the environmental factors that trigger this skin disorder.

**It is so vitally important part of any ‘Rosacea or Facial Flushing Treatment is to avoid your own personal triggers. This can only be done by noting them down so you will know which ones to avoid. Any facial redness or rosacea treatments such as Topical Creams or even Laser & IPL will fail if you don’t attempt to avoid most or all of the triggers Below we ha.ve provided a PDF diary which you can download and print out.

YOUR FREE ROSACEA DIARY DOWNLOAD FOR KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR TRIGGERS

Control stress and anxiety

Stressful situations do cause flushing. However, avoiding these situations is not the answer as the condition will only escalate if not properly managed. Learning methods of managing and controlling stress and anxiety will considerably reduce the problem, or even eliminate it completely. You can read more about techniques for Stress and Anxiety Management on this page >>

Avoid or limit stimulants

Vascular dilators including coffee, tea, cigarettes, and excessive sugar from sweets and soft drinks should be avoided or substantially reduced where possible. Research has shown that soft drinks that contain Aspartame or NutraSweet cause flushing and redness in about 30% of rosacea sufferers. Stimulants such as caffeine that is found in tea and coffee excites the nervous system, which results in blood vessel dilatation and redness. In addition, stress and anxiety symptoms are also increased.

Avoid or limit alcohol

It is best to avoid alcohol or reduce consumption.
Avoid hot baths and showers or very cold water

To prevent vascular dilation hot and very cold water should be avoided. Instead water below body temperature of 37 degrees centigrade (97 degrees Fahrenheit) should be used.

Diet revision

Foods and drinks that cause facial redness and vascular dilation, should be avoided. Foods types that cause these allergic flare-ups vary from individual to individual and the exact reasons for these food allergies are still unknown. However, it is thought that foods high in calories and carbohydrates (sugars, breads, pastas), that give high burn and energy rates, dilate blood vessels and cause the red complexion. It has also been suggested that foods high in histidine such as tomatoes and red peppers raise anti-histamine levels in the body. Anti-histamine is produced by an automated process to help fight allergic reactions, but unfortunately this can also cause flushing to those prone to rosacea.

Rosacea sufferers have noted allergic reactions to: vinegars, hot spices, citrus fruits, red plums, raisins, figs, pasta, cheese, and chocolates as being among the worst offenders. Vascular dilators such as hot drinks and hot foods should be allowed to cool before consuming. The list of food allergies varies from individual to individual. However, you can devise and plan your own diet by recording the foods which cause your facial flushing and allergic reactions.

Use sun block

The sun is a major cause of rosacea flare-ups and skin irritation which affects 61% of rosacea sufferers. To protect against this, ensure a sun block with a high SPF factor of 30+ is applied especially to the face and other area before exposure to the sun.

Avoid astringent soaps and cleansing agents

Astringent soaps, and cleansing agents that contain alcohol only dry and irritate the skin by stripping the protective sebum oil coating. To rosacea prone people this skin irritation may lead to a rosacea flare-up/outbreak. Alcohol based cleansing agents also shrink pores which can trap oil causing swelling, and as result lead to acne symptoms or cysts

Only a soothing moisturising cleaning solution that heals and nourishes the skin should be used, such as the skin treaments products for acne and rosacea recommended on this site.