Do you struggle with a permanent redness of the skin on your cheeks, nose and chin area? These flushed symptoms are the tell-tale signs of rosacea.

It’s a reasonably common skin condition and is something we treat regularly at Jamele Skincare Centre on Cameron Road in Tauranga. If you think you may have rosacea, we recommend you book in for a 60min Skin Disorder Consultation with one of our experienced therapists.

In the meantime, we have created a one-stop blog-post which will answer your questions and give you important insights into how to heal rosacea.

Smooth, clear, beautiful skin is possible – but we’ll be up front – it will need some effort and diet/lifestyle changes from you.

Ready? Let’s get started.

What is Rosacea?

Rosacea is often described as a permanent redness to nose, cheeks, and chin area, presenting as a flushed appearance. It can also develop into acne in those areas.

It is common in fair skinned people, more often women rather than men, and usually strikes between the age of 30 to 60. It may be transient, recurrent or persistent and is characterised by its colour, red.

What Are the Causes?

Rosacea is a complex condition and no two cases ever seem to be exactly alike. If you struggle with rosacea it is likely you have a genetic pre-disposition, however there often triggers which set it off.

Common triggers are physical, emotional stress, exposure to harsh chemicals, medication, digestive disorders, hormonal imbalances, UV exposure, Vitamin A and Zinc deficiency and poor diet.

How to Heal Rosacea

So, enough about cause, let’s talk about solutions. It’s important to know that you will need to embrace all of the changes below if you really want to transform your skin. The good news is, these wellness enhancing habits will have many health benefits beyond calming and clearing your rosacea. We find over and over again that the process of transforming your skin is actually process of transforming your life.

1. Don’ t Sit too Close to the Fire!

You can minimise inflammation by avoiding sun exposure and anything that overheats the skin – over-heated rooms, pools and saunas. During winter, avoid sitting too close to the fire or having the car heater blasting directly on your skin. All of these things will contribute to inflammation in your skin. While you are calming and healing your skin, blankets and warm clothes are your friends.

2. Reduce Skin Inflammation with EFA’s

Rosacea is an inflammatory skin condition. This means it is important to calm and reduce inflammation in your body which will help to calm your skin. A significant way to reduce inflammation is by introducing quality Essential Fatty Acids into your diet.

BESTOW BEAUTY OIL IS BEST SOURCE OF EFA’S FOR SKIN

“At Jamele, we prescribe Bestow Beauty Plus Oil, which has been designed with skin health in mind. It contains high levels of Essential Fatty Acids (Omega-3 and Omega-6) which help to support, moisturise and strengthen your skin from within. It can easily be mixed into smoothies, dressings, yoghurt or porridge each day. You can buy in clinic at Jamele Skincare or from our online shop.
~ Shelley Foster

3. Avoid Heating Foods

Certain foods heat your skin, causing it to appear reddened and feel sensitive. These foods are called ‘vasodilators’ and they heat your skin by increasing the blood flow through your fine capillary system.

If you’re prone to red or sensitive skin and broken capillaries, it is recommended you try to avoid or reduce the following heating foods. Instead, choose their cooling, soothing alternatives.

Avoid: Hot and spicy foods (especially curry, chilli and cayenne)
Try: Fresh herbs and less ‘spicy’ spices. Opt for salads and raw vegetables over hot or spicy dishes

Avoid: Caffeine, alcohol and energy drinks all of which heat and dehydrate your skin
Try: Herbal teas, Chai tea, Ecco, Rooibos Tea, Caro, natural decaffeinated coffee

Avoid: Oranges, orange juice and strawberries
Try: Any fresh fruit in season

Avoid: Peanuts and peanut butter
Try: Tahini, almond paste and raw, unsalted nuts such as almonds or brazil nuts

Avoid: Chocolate
Try: Medjool dates and figs and healthy homemade chocolates. (See Bestow Treats recipe book)

4. Have Acne? Avoid Congesting Foods Too

For some people, acne can occur simultaneously with rosacea. If your skin has a tendency to congest, any saturated fats in your diet will cause the oil (sebum) to thicken and block your pores, resulting in bumps and breakouts. Saturated fats also contain fatty acids which can irritate and inflame the surface of your skin, making your rosacea worse.

To help nourish, enrich and soothe your skin, try replacing the following congesting foods with their skin-smoothing alternatives:

Avoid: Cheese
Try: Very small quantities of ricotta, cottage cheese or feta

Avoid: Full cream dairy products
Try: Skim milk, soy milk, rice milk, low fat or soy yoghurt

Avoid: Red meat – reduce intake, trim off visible fat before cooking
Try: Grilled or baked lean meat dishes, organic chicken, turkey or fresh fish

Avoid: Chips and fried foods
Try: Grilled, steamed or baked foods, salads, stir fries

Avoid: Protein powder, drinks and bars
Try: Eggs, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, spirulina powder and brewers yeast

Avoid: Icecream
Try: Gelato

Avoid: Milo or hot chocolate
Try: Carob powder, warm milk with molasses, cinnamon, honey and warm soy milk.

diet changes to support rosacea healing

“To help treat rosacea, I recommend looking at your diet and eliminating all heating and congesting foods. Eliminate the obvious baddies like coffee and alcohol and congesting fats. Add into your diet almonds and walnuts, seeds, whole grains, vegetables, polyunsaturated oils, olives, avocado, flaxseed, and oily fish. Supplement your diet with Bestow Beauty Oil, Vitamin B and Zinc for healing.”
~ Shelley Foster

TIP! Skin-Friendly Healthy Recipe Books

If you’re struggling to imagine how you would live without heating and congesting foods, check out Jamele’s Bestow Recipe Books. The recipes in this collection are gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar free and eliminate all heating and congesting foods. Created by a derma-nutritionist, they are completely skin friendly and all the hard work is done for you! Best of all, the recipes are really simple to make and taste delicious. There are six books in the range – we recommend The Gut-Skin Connection and Bestow Treats I to get you started.

5. Supplementation

In addition to Bestow Beauty Oil for EFA’s, it is absolutely essential to include the following supplements into your skin healing programme: Zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B.

Each has a specific role to play for skin health and healing. No compromise!

Janesce B Complex Capsules
B-vitamins are super important for a holistic treatment of rosacea acne as they help your body to manage stress. For optimum skin health it is important to ensure that you take a B Complex supplement that contains 50mg of B2 and 50mg of B6. The Janesce B Complex Vitamin contains this exact formation and is perfect for skin health.

Janesce Zinc Repair Capsules
Zinc is very healing for the skin. The Janesce Zinc Repair capsules include zinc blended with vitamin A, betacarotene and vitamin C for skin health.

Which skincare products do you recommend for rosacea?

When treating rosacea it is vital to avoid using aggressive skin care products and treatments that strip the skin of its own natural barrier. Healthy skin has an acid mantle on the surface, which acts a protective buffer. This skin barrier keeps environmental threats away from the vulnerable layers of skin beneath.

There are many products on the market, which strip this protective barrier, leading to sensitized, red and inflamed skin. Avoid foaming cleansers, bead and granule exfoliants and soaps. Don’t be fooled by that squeaky clean feeling! You are compromising your skin’s vital protective barrier.

“We use four professional skincare ranges at Jamele – Dermaviduals, Environ, Janesce and Joyce Blok. We would recommend which was best suited to you after a skin consultation. When we’re dealing with rosacea, the skin is always sensitive so we avoid unnecessary stimulation and focus on calming and soothing the skin. With every skincare range there is a treatment protocol to follow so we assess each individual thoroughly and decide what is best for them. In all circumstances diet and nutrition is key.”
~ Shelley Foster

Spotlight on Dermaviduals

Your Dermaviduals moisturiser is made specifically for your skin requirements by your therapist. Your therapist has 43 different active concentrates to choose from which she will add to the base cream for a customizable solution designed to enhance and repair your skin.

The products are free of emulsifiers, preservatives, fragrances, mineral oils,silicones, dyes and amines, which makes this range perfect for treating rosacea.

Cleansing Milk
Gentle cleansing and skin care without emulsifiers.

Suusmoon Lotion N
Skin barrier disorders such as rosacea needs a skin care lotion with a high oil content to restore its natural balance. süüsmoon®-Lotion N regenerates the natural skin barrier and gently supports, strengthens and protects your skin.

Customised Moisturiser/Serum

Wecreate a bespoke combination of concentrates mixed into High Classic Moisturiser. It will be customised to suit your unique needs, but it is likely to be a combination of some of the following ingredients which help to address rosacea symptoms:

Liposomes Concentrate Plus provides intensive care of blemished and rosacea prone skin.
Linseed Oil is well known for its soothing and anti-inflammatory properties.
Boswellia extract provides care and support for hyperactive and barrier disordered skin.
D-Panthenol increases and regulates skin hydration by improving the hydration capacity (moisturiser) and supports the regeneration of the skin and specifically, the cell formation. It has a smoothing effect on the skin.
Vitamin A supports collagen formation and promotes the regeneration of the skin.

Spotlight on Janesce Skincare

Janesce is much more than an organic botanical skincare range, it’s a whole philosophy of skin health. The Janesce way is to address the root causes of rosacea, not just treat the symptoms. Janesce works from within with a multi-dimensional approach that considers lifestyle, nutrition and supplementation as well as topical skincare.

The Janesce Skincare ranges soothes and calms an inflamed, red and sensitive skin. Your skincare therapist will prescribe you a Janesce dermo-nutrition guide to suit your unique skin needs and sensitivities. Women who are prepared to make changes achieve wonderful results, and not just with their skin – their whole lives improve!

The Janesce Repair and Glow pack contains therapeutic plant products to repair sensitised rosacea skin. It contains introductory sized plant-based skincare and a soaking cloth so you can begin your twice-daily Janesce Repair and Glow Skin Soaking Ritual. Do this for 30 days and you'll notice a visible difference in the look and feel of your skin.

The pack contains a two month supply of the following products:

Lavender Soaking Drops (30mls): A rose infusion with a softening and feminising effect.

SK1 Concentrate (30mls): A powerful plant concentrate to heal hyper-sensitive skin.

Soothing Mist (25mls): A soothing botanical mist to strengthen sensitive skin.

Avocado and Sesame Facial Oil (30mls): A soothing and balancing facial oil and gentle moisturiser for sensitive skin.

Soaking Cloth: A beautifully soft, cotton gauze cloth for soaking the skin.

CLICK HERE for more information about the Repair and Glow Ritual for Hypersensitive Skin

A Holistic Approach to Healing Rosacea