Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that affects about 16 million women and men in the United States. Although anyone may develop rosacea, you’re significantly more likely to develop it if you have:
Women sometimes develop rosacea for the first time during menopause. However, you’re most likely to develop rosacea between ages 30-60, no matter your sex or ethnicity.
At The Center for Dermatology Cosmetic & Laser Surgery in Mount Kisco, New York, our skilled dermatologists diagnose and treat rosacea.
In addition to encouraging lifestyle changes, such as eating less or no spicy food, we offer cutting-edge therapies to cut down on the severity and frequency of flares.
Do you have rosacea? Following are a few lesser-known therapies we may recommend.
Vbeam® is a pulsed dye laser (PDL) considered the gold standard treatment for lesions caused by aberrant blood vessels, such as those in rosacea. After an average of 2.6 Vbeam treatments, rosacea patients with visible blood vessels (e.g., spider veins) saw improvement of 75%-100%.
We target the laser energy to the excess pigment in your rosacea lesions, patches, and blood vessels. The lesions and vessels absorb the energy and start to break apart. Even after just one treatment, you may notice a significant difference in how clear and uniform your skin looks.
Also, the heat from the Vbeam laser stimulates your skin to produce more collagen. The Vbeam not only improves or resolves your rosacea but increases the health and clarity of your skin.
Many people have an excessive number of skin mites called Demodex folliculorum. Although everybody has Demodex on their skin, rosacea patients have more than usual.
Your dermatologist may recommend ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug. It’s a topical treatment but also comes in an oral formulation.
You simply apply a pea-sized amount of cream to each affected area of your face, such as:
Topical permethrin, an insecticide that mimics compounds derived from chrysanthemums, can also kill the Demodex mites.
Some systemic medications can help subdue the inflammation that causes reddened and thickened skin characteristic of rosacea. Others are antibiotics that kill skin mites. Choices include:
You may respond best to a combination of therapies. However, it’s important to only use antibiotics over the short term to avoid creating antibiotic resistance.
You’ve heard about Botox® for wrinkles, but Botox injections may also help control flushing and redness in rosacea. Botox seems to work on several levels. First, it blocks the release of acetylcholine in blood vessels, which causes them to expand and create flushing.
Second, it seems to inhibit mast-cell degranulation. Mast cells release pro-inflammatory factors. Inflammation is one of the triggers for the redness and swelling associated with rosacea. Botox blocks degranulation by binding with proteins within the skin cells.
If you’re ready to stop blushing, flushing, and feeling embarrassed by your rosacea, contact our helpful team for novel therapies by phone or online form today.
