Not ‘just a blush’! How to spot early-stage rosacea

How does rosacea manifest? Is it immediately visually obvious that a person has this problem? Marina Tsedrik, a skin specialist, senior lecturer at the Department of Dermatovenereology and Cosmetology with the advanced training and retraining course of Belarusian State Medical University, covered this and other topics in BelTA’s project On Point. Health.

“When it is visually obvious that a person has this form of skin change, the disease has already been progressing for about 5–10 years. It all begins much earlier, often during puberty. We think we are just being shy - our face immediately ‘flushes’ when we are anxious or when the air temperature changes from cold to hot, or our skin reddens right after contact with the sun. Vascular reactivity is the first sign, the stage of predisposition to inflammation of the vessel wall.

If you ignore it, meaning you do not introduce skincare products, do not strengthen the vessel wall with certain multivitamins, and do not manage your psycho-emotional state, over time, the tiny blood vessels remain in a relaxed state for much longer.

When the process drags on, additional inflammatory mediators are activated, and nodules and rosy pimples form. Squeezing them is useless, no pus will come out, but the trauma will only intensify the inflammation. As a result, you can see red, purplish-bluish formations, especially in the central part of the face.

Men often ignore these conditions until it is too late. With age, this leads to blood vessels becoming diffused across the entire face and even spreading to the neck. These purplish-blue telangiectasias make it look like the person is constantly blushing or, on the contrary, is suffering from frostbite. Chronic inflammation of the dermal vessel walls causes the skin to become hypertrophic, thicker, and rougher. Over time, one can reach a point of complete alteration of facial contours. For example, rhinophyma, when the nose becomes large, bumpy, with enlarged pores.