Skincare for facial redness

[Littleguggi]

I don't think I have rosacea, or if I do it's a very mild form, but I randomly get flushing on my cheeks and nose area. I'm becoming more self conscious despite being a makeup wearer, I feel it shows through. I know I could use a colour correct but would prefer to treat the redness with skincare. What skincare products would you recommend?

I find it flares up more as the day goes on, so maybe its linked to temperature changes or outdoor conditions, who knows. I haven't found any actual triggers.

Niacinamide helps with redness 🙂

That sounds scary, what's that? Is it a chemical?

Not scary... www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/niacinamide#benefits

I use this too, well I use The Ordinary's one. I can tell if I forget for a couple of days.

I'd suggest trying azaleic acid.

theordinary.com/en-gb/azelaic-acid-suspension-10-exfoliator-100407.html

I've never used the ordinary, are they good? Their niacinamide is only a fiver, that seems quite cheap. I am used to spending ££ on skincare.

Okay now so an acid sound scary. I think have quite sensitive skin!

Have a look at either Dermatica or Skin & Me (which I use and love).

You take a questionnaire and upload photos. A pharmacist gives you a prescription cream for your needs. Posted out every 28 days.

Don't be scared of 'acid'! After all, vitamin C is 'ascorbic acid'. Acids are essential to our bodily functions.

Physiogel AI (anti-irritation) cream - previously Oilatum Natural Repair face cream - have kept my face skin under control for 20+ years. Took me years to find something I never reacted to, use it daily.

I find CeraVe fantastic and then Double Wear foundation on top.

I'd look at your diet actually, look at anti inflammatory foods particularly try giving up gluten for about a month or so and just eat really healthily. Take an Omega 3 supplement. Massively up your water intake, make sure you're getting enough sleep & exercise. Don't drink alcohol. Protect the skin barrier on your face. Use very gentle things, no harsh ingredients and certainly no foaming cleansers whatsoever. I use Garnier micellar water for sensitive skin to remove makeup, then extra cleansing with Clinique take the day off cleansing balm and a damp muslin then rinse off (like you would with Liz Earle C&P) . I use a special cream for seborreheic dermatitis after that but yours may not be due to that, ,however I do think that certain ingredients or oils in moisturisers can certainly irritate an already irritated skin more. You might need to play around with a moisturiser to see what suits. Dietary wise, see what happens after a month. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised.

I tried all this as I was fed up with a red face, with seborrheic dermatitis and a touch of rosacea. It just looked really irritated with broken veins. Just inflamed, and the surface texture wasn't good. It got to where anything I put on my face made it sting. My skin barrier was fucked. By the end of the month of doing everything I've mentioned above, I barely needed to wear makeup and my skin was a normal colour and texture. Any water on my skin kind of beaded on the surface as my skin barrier had repaired itself and it just looked dewey rather than dull and dehydrated and red.

I use La Roche Posay Rosaliac CC cream as a foundation. It's a bit orange but does blend in. I can't tolerate much else. It does hide the redness quite a bit.

I'm afraid to say that I could not keep up all the things that were good for my skin (it was sooo boring not having alcohol and chocolate and gluten etc!) and it has definitely got bad and irritated again. I keep meaning to have another strict month but life has been stressful recently and I can't face it at the mo, but it does work.

I was struggling with constant flushing, red cheeks, no makeup would help because it would still be seen that my face is bright red under all the foundation, and it all MASSIVELY improved after I've started applying The Ordinary's niacinamide every night. You won't regret it OP.
I do still get red cheeks when I'm hot, but I guess that can't be helped. At least it's not 24/7 like it used to be before!

Careful what face wash you use. I find a nice gentle cetaphil one does the job. Anything that's too astringent makes it worse.

I've just ordered some of this, thanks for the recommendation.

You could try Dermatica. I have type 2 rosacea with the redness and pustules but since using the treatment my skin is now normal. I have suffered for years and its do strange that my skin is just like everyone else's now. I wish I knew of it years ago. It's really easy, complete a questionnaire upload 3 photos and the dermatologist will review and prescribe your treatment. I am on metronidazole, ivermectin and niacinamide a nice textured cream that I apply each evening. I have a code so you can try the first month for free just pay the postage. My tube lasts about 5 weeks so I defer the next tube each time.
Try personalised skincare for just £2.90, plus 25% off your next month.

Head to www.dermatica.co.uk and checkout with code 3LW935
www.dermatica.co.uk/referrer/3LW935

Rosalique.

Wow some really amazing advice there, thank you everyone! I will have a thorough read and see what changes I can make. I have been using a foaming cleanser and wonder now if that may be the culprit! I would be interested to know how a gluten free diet improves skin, is there any evidence on this?

Having done lots of research alongside trial and error, I have yet to find anything that ‘cures’ redness. I now cleanse my face with any old hot cloth cleanser, moisturise with Aldi serum and use a decent CC cream. I’m currently using It cosmetics CC cream. It says it’s full coverage but I use a very small amount applied with a sponge. It lasts all day and gives a decent amount of coverage without looking - and feeling cakey.
https://www.lookfantastic.com/it-cosmetics-your-skin-but-better-cc-cream-with-spf50-32ml-various-shades/12920739.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjww4-hBhCtARIsAC9gR3afcebsO2VpDeMEeLEIRShIT3-3RnWfNc6bfJ9MkNyOg60mjSUzM14aAkfTEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Things that helped me:
La roche Posay Toleraine cleanser & moisturiser
Metronidazole cream (prescription)

Re gluten free/limited diet. With me, I just noticed that as I got older my skin was getting worse in terms of redness and irritation/broken veins etc, and it seemed to coincide with some digestive issues (bloating/excess wind ) as well as blood tests showing up chronic inflammation all the time with nothing to pinpoint where it was coming from. I think I found a few things about gluten sensitivity when I was trying to research online about chronic inflammation in the body and what may be the cause. The GP never investigated anything, just always said I must have had a cold or something recently. That was never the case, but what can you do? So I just tried to research on my own.

I have always had very greasy skin on my face despite being 50, but it's also dry and flaky, red and itchy at the same time. I looked into whether this could be seborrheic dermatitis and the causes of this, and as part of this found some stuff about dietary causes. Literally just through trialling an anti inflammatory diet (which cuts out gluten) for a few weeks, (I loosely followed Dr Perricone), my stomach bloating and wind disappeared, I felt full of energy and my skin was the best it's ever been. No redness, or irritation. I just had normal coloured skin for the first time in my life since I was a child.

I only know that it worked for ME. Unfortunately I do like bread and pasta and am also a bit lazy with rubbish willpower, so I haven't been able to keep to a gluten free diet as I'm not actually coeliac so don't feel like I HAVE to. .I've had a stressful year too so needless to say, my skin is now shit again. And have noticed the stomach issues again....

Just research into how to repair your skin barrier first off.