It affects more than three million Americans every year. In this week’s Women’s Wellness, I’m catching up with Dr. Courtney Murphy, a dermatologist at the Baton Rouge Clinic, and we are talking about rosacea.
“Rosacea is a common skin condition that typical affects the face. It leads to facial flushing. So, people will get just a suddenly red face. You can have broken blood vessels. People will also get little kind of red bumps. It can even lead to an enlarged nose sometimes,” said Dr. Murphy.
Dr. Murphy said Rosacea has a lot to do with a person’s genetics.
“It’s generally going to be people in their 40’s, 50’s and then up, and it can affect all races and both genders. It’s just more common in people with fairer skin,” explained Dr. Murphy. “We know that there are certain triggers. So, people who go out in the sun a lot and have a lot of sun exposure have a higher chance of rosacea, and individuals have triggers. So, if you eat a lot of spicy foods, your face may flush or drinking warm beverages you can have facial flushing.”
How do you treat it?
“One way that we do it is treat it with topical antibiotics. Interestingly enough, patients with rosacea tend to have higher levels of a little mite call demodex. So, it is a little mite found on everybody’s skin, but with rosacea, there’s more of it, and you can use a topical anti-mite treatment that can help with rosacea as well. Also, a new topical gel that shrinks down blood vessels. The redness and broken blood vessels can also be treated by laser. So, you can really get rid of some of that redness and broken blood vessels with laser therapy,” concluded Dr. Murphy.