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Identify Your Rosacea Triggers With This Helpful Tool

December 23rd, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

If you are like many rosacea sufferers, identifying your rosacea triggers may seem like unraveling a murder mystery. Possible catalysts for rosacea flare-ups can be very elusive and hard to pinpoint without a plan and the proper tools.

As you have probably read, there are a large number of lifestyle and environmental factors that may be responsible for triggering your flare-ups. One issue in identifying your rosacea triggers is that no individual will be affected by all of the potential triggers, but only be a few factors.

How to Identify a Rosacea Trigger

In an attempt to de-mystify the process for identifying your triggers, there is a logical and methodical process that must be followed. The key to finding out what triggers your rosacea flare-ups is to track your skin condition over a period of weeks.

This tracking process can be simplified by using a log which details the events and environment just prior to a flare-up and what action appears to relieve your symptoms. This is very important because you will begin to see a pattern over time that will make your rosacea triggers much more obvious to you.

Keep Track of Your Rosacea Flare-ups

The National Rosacea Society offers a diary checklist that assists in your documenting any exposure to various common rosacea triggers on a daily basis. These common triggers can range from weather to emotions (i.e. stress), activities (i.e. workouts) and various foods (i.e. spicy). We highly recommend that you use this rosacea diary checklist and, best of all, it is free. You can get your diary at www.rosacea.org

Avoiding Your Rosacea Triggers Is Key

Once you have identified your personal triggers, it is up to you to avoid the specific environmental factor or food that will result in a flare-up in your symptoms. There will be situations when you cannot totally avoid one of these factors, but small adjustments can make a significant difference.

If hot air is one of your triggers and you find yourself at a restaurant where the heat vent is blowing directly on you, ask for another table or change seats with your partner. It becomes very important to be fully aware of your environment and how it may affect you (if environmental factors are your triggers).

We hope that this advice will help you to identify your rosacea triggers and help you to control rosacea flare-ups in the future. Be methodical and persistent in your record keeping and you will enjoy the benefits of fewer flare-ups and a more normal lifestyle.

Rosacea Triggers - Does Alcohol Effect Your Symptoms?

November 20th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

For many rosacea sufferers, alcohol can trigger their rosacea symptoms.  This can vary from a mild flushing in the cheeks to a full blown flareup.  So, with the holidays almost upon us and the temptation for food and drink everywhere, keep your guard up when consuming alcoholic beverages.

How Much is Too Much

In a recent study by the National Rosacea Society, they determined that certain alcoholic beverages may affect rosacea more than others.  The study results also showed that exacerbations were not caused by heavy drinking but could also be caused by only a small quantity of certain alcoholic beverages.  This certainly dispelled the common myth that rosacea flareups were limited to heavy drinkers.

In the survey,  10% said they rarely or never drank alcohol, while another 10% reported that  alcoholic beverages did not affect their rosacea.

Wine as a Rosacea Trigger

Of those surveyed who were affected by alcohol, it was red wine that caused rosacea flareups in 76% of the cases.  White wine, another culprit, aggravated their rosacea condition for 56% of the respondents.  And lastly, champagne triggered symptoms in 33% of those surveyed.

Other Alcoholic Triggers

Wine, though being the most prevalent alcoholic drink to aggravate symptoms, there were others that were nearly as bad.  Beer was next on the list with 41% responding that it caused their rosacea symptoms to flare-up.

For those who favor the hard liquors, vodka was cited as the leading rosacea trigger, affecting 33 percent of those surveyed. In descending order, the following were also noted; tequila (28%), bourbon (24%), gin (24%), rum (24%) and scotch (21%).

Overall, one of the most interesting findings in the survey was that for those who were affected by alcohol, 64% stated that it only took a single drink to cause a rosacea reaction.  So, as you head out to another holiday gathering, perhaps you should be careful about consuming that tantalizing alcoholic libation - even just one!

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