What is rosacea?
Rosacea is a condition where facial blood vessels enlarge. It can be recognized with the frequent flushing of the face that makes it look like you are constantly in mid-blush. The redness can also make it appear as though you’ve been sunburned, and red, lumpy spots show up looking very similar to acne. Sometimes the spots go away after a little bit and other times they take much longer to disappear. Depending on how bad the rosacea flares up, tiny blood vessels under the skin can become quite prominent. Symptoms can also cause discomfort with your eyes, including, burning, stinging, itchiness, dryness, sensitivity to light, and eyelid problems.
What causes rosacea to flare up?
Triggers can include alcohol, heat, sun, wind, exercise, hot drinks, spicy foods, skin care products, stress, anxiety, and even overuse of steroid cream. What causes your rosacea to flare-up, might not bother another person at all. With so many different types of triggers, it might be difficult to pinpoint exactly what is causing you difficulty. A helpful thing to do might be to keep a food/drink diary and track what you take in. That way, if you get a flare-up, you’re not wondering what exactly you ate that could have made you have a bad reaction.
When cleaning your face, try to stay away from everything that has alcohol, acetone, or witch hazel in it, as it can cause burning and irritation. Get rid of harsh cleansers. Avoid rubbing or scrubbing your face. This could irritate your skin and make you even more uncomfortable. Heat and pressure can also aggravate your sensitive skin. Be gentle with your skin, after all, you wouldn’t powerwash a puppy!
Skin prone to rosacea is apt to be more sensitive in different weather conditions. So applying a natural, gentle sunscreen daily and a moisturizer without chemicals is a good way to go.
Acupuncture for rosacea
One of traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture’s main jobs is to reduce chronic inflammation, so it can help greatly in reducing the signs of rosacea.
Acupuncture three main healing benefits. They are pain relief, reduction of inflammation, and restoration of homeostasis.
Acupuncture, for overall pain relief, works by unclogging a person’s qi (chee). Qi is really a person’s energy and all bodily fluids. So, if your energy, your hormones, blood, and any other healing fluids in your body are clogged up or you’re unable to produce the right amount, you slowly start to feel unwell. Over time it becomes worse and that’s when people develop painful conditions.
Sometimes you can even have too much qi (bodily fluids that you don’t need) and sometimes it’s the exact opposite and you have too little. Either one isn’t ideal. Acupuncture helps to get your qi flowing properly. The needles are like guideposts that qi follows to heal your body or to maintain your health. Pain and inflammation is a big sign of your qi not functioning properly. The key is to get it back on track.
If you’re worried because acupuncture sounds scary, take heart! It’s not that frightening!
Comment below if you have anymore questions about how Acupuncture can help with rosacea!