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Attention Rosacea Sufferers: Your Microbiome Is Calling

How protecting the bacteria on your skin could help prevent flare-ups

At first, it tingles. A warm sensation emanates from within, and the tingles quickly turn into an itch that crawls across my skin and begins to burn. I feel my skin flush and can’t help but claw at my face, even though there’s nothing to scratch away.

Like a bad horror movie, it’s coming from inside the house. In this case, my body. Someone politely asks if I’m okay, and I reassure them I’m not about to drop dead from an unfortunate allergic reaction. They look unconvinced.

According to the Canadian Dermatology Association, rosacea affects more than 3 million Canadians. I’m one of them. A flare-up turns me into a human Rorschach test—a smattering of red blotches begging to be interpreted.

Was it the wine? The chili flakes on my pizza? Maybe it’s my new moisturizer. Am I nervous? Embarrassed? Perhaps it’s the room temperature. Or that second coffee.

Any one of these things, or a mixture of them, could be the culprit. Rosacea flares suddenly and often inexplicably. There are common triggers, but no one really knows what’s behind the chronic inflammatory skin condition responsible for easy blushing, inflamed blood vessels, persistent redness, bumpy skin texture and even breakouts resembling acne. Ask a dermatologist what causes it, and they’ll gesture vaguely at various genetic and environmental factors.

Rosacea affects more than 3 million Canadians. I’m one of them. A flare up turns me into a human Rorschach test—a smattering of red blotches begging to be interpreted.

Rosacea can be treated, but it can’t be cured. Typical remedies include topical and oral drugs, like antibiotics, and sometimes light therapy. Many sufferers, myself  included, hoard green primers and various “calming” facial mists that may or may not just be very expensive water. You see, people with rosacea will try just about anything to control it.

So when I heard about new research connecting rosacea and other inflammatory skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis to something called the microbiome, I was predictably intrigued. So intrigued, in fact, that I jetted off to Paris for a crash course on the topic at La Roche-Posay’s International Microbiome Event.

The blue-lit auditorium, packed with media and dermatologists from as far as South Korea and Africa, felt more like a flashy tech conference than a skincare seminar. I listened intently as some of the world’s top microbiologists, scientists and dermatologists presented and learned that the human microbiome consists of trillions of bacteria, viruses and fungi that live in our bodies.

While we’ve historically treated our skin like one massive and uniform organ, our skin alone has more than 1,000 microbial species. Our gut plays host to between 2,000-5,000 strains of bacteria at any one time. These microbiota (a fancy word I brought back from Paris) are affected by environmental exposure, diet, the climate we live in and even who we live with.

Why should we care about our skin’s microbiota, you ask? Because research shows they may initiate or amplify skin conditions including eczema, psoriasis, acne, dandruff, aging in polluted environments and, yes, rosacea. That means understanding these microbiota could have huge implications for the beauty industry, which is why La Roche-Posay and other skincare brands including Valmont, Dermalogica, Dove and Canada’s own NuVsio are turning their focus to this area of research. The team at La Roche-Posay, which has been pioneering microbiome science since 2011, believes the impact of microbiome research could be as great as the discovery of DNA in the 1950s.

If your microbiome becomes compromised or unbalanced, your skin may suffer. According to the experts at La Roche-Posay, the key to preventing and even treating inflammatory skin conditions lies in protecting, regulating and repairing the microbiota. You can do this with a combination of probiotics (good bacteria), prebiotics (food sources for good bacteria) and postbiotics (compounds created by good bacteria).

Too often, we’re not just ignoring our delicate microbiota, we’re actively damaging them with an alphabet soup of acids and 12-step regimens worthy of a mad scientist.

To keep gut microbiota healthy, a diet should be plentiful in foods such as wild salmon, fermented foods rich in probiotics and prebiotic-rich vegetables including asparagus, onion, garlic and leeks. Sugar, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, pesticides and hormones should be avoided. My predilection for Kraft Dinner is particularly frowned upon.

While prebiotics and probiotics aren’t hugely new terms in the food realm, they aren’t typically talked about in the beauty world. Too often, we’re not just ignoring our delicate microbiota, we’re actively damaging them with an alphabet soup of acids and 12-step regimens worthy of a mad scientist.

“Cleansing is the worst step in our entire skincare regimen,” says Elena Brei, a PhD researcher in water technology and founder of Canadian skincare line NuVsio, aimed at supporting the skin’s microbiome. “You should be washing once a day, at night. When we cleanse our skin in the morning with any kind of detergent or cleanser, it’s really an unnecessary step. Just rinsing the skin with cool water is enough to remove any excess product.”

While Brei’s stance on cleansing may seem like heresy in the age of double-cleansing, she has an even stronger dislike of physical exfoliants, which can damage the skin’s protective barrier. “A bead in a scrub or polish is as big as a truck, if a skin cell is as big as a tennis ball. If you have a field of tennis balls 20 layers deep representing your skin cells, that truck is probably going to crush quite a few. That’s what a scrub or polish does to our top skin layer, which can really wreak havoc.”

Once you’ve eliminated the bad, it’s time to introduce the good. La Roche-Posay discovered that its thermal spring water, uniquely rich in the essential mineral selenium, is a prebiotic with skin-soothing properties. This means the signature Thermal Spring Water spray isn’t just expensive water—it really does contain minerals that can calm an angry microbiome. This is, in part, why the French government and French insurance companies cover three-week stints at the brand’s spa in the town of La Roche-Posay for patients suffering from skin conditions.

how to treat rosacea
La Roche-Posay, NuVsioLa Roche-Posay Lipika Baume AP+, $33, laroche-posay.ca. NuVsio Purifying Mineral Mask, $33 (35 ml), nuvsio.com. La Roche-Posay Toleriane Sensitive, $25, laroche-posay.ca

For those who can’t spend three weeks at the spa, the brand has been combining its thermal spring water with other prebiotic ingredients in products such as Lipikar Baume AP+, Toleriane Sensitive Moisturiser, Toleriane Sensitive Riche and Effaclar Duo [+] to help protect, regulate and repair microbiota.

Similarly, NuVsio products contain prebiotic minerals harvested from North America’s ancient sea beds, glacial deposits and the Canadian Shield. The brand’s star product is the purifying mineral mask, featuring a concentrated mineral blend.

But often the most painful part of rosacea isn’t the rosacea itself, but the psychological toll it takes. “Three-quarters of rosacea patients have reported low self-esteem. Similar numbers have reported that they feel the rosacea adversely affects their career opportunities,” reports the Canadian Dermatology Association. “Successfully controlling symptoms through treatment has been shown to improve the mental and emotional well-being of patients.”

If learning how to protect and support the microbiome really is the key to combating inflammatory skin conditions such as rosacea, this growing field of research doesn’t only have the potential to improve people’s skin health, but also their mental health.

I, for one, will be watching closely, trading in my KD for sauerkraut and dousing myself in thermal water.

Travel and accommodation for Sabrina Maddeaux were provided by La Roche-Posay. La Roche-Posay did not review or approve this story.

 

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