Rosacea Treated Successfully With Natural Products

April 19, 2010 - PRLog -- Rosacea (or Acne Rosacea) symptoms include rough, itchy, red blotched skin, small red bumps or pustules on your nose, cheeks, forehead, and/or chin, small prominent blood vessels on your nose and/or cheeks and a tendency to flush or blush. Hair loss is another unfortunate symptom for some.

The skin is naturally host to many organisms such as bacteria, viruses, mites and other parasites, but in China, research in to Rosacea has concentrated on a mite called demodex   – which is often associated with blackheads, acne and other skin disorders. This mite is less than 0.4 mm long and can live anywhere on the body where there are hair roots and sebum glands, but it tends to be most prevalent on the face, and especially the chin, forehead, nose and cheeks, as these areas provide an optimum temperature in which it can live and breed. Demodex can also live in eyelash roots and cause blepharitis (an inflammation of the eyelash follicles), and infect the scalp so that certain people with very reactive immune responses to the mite may suffer hair loss as a consequence.

Signs of a problem with demodex mites include itchiness and a crawling sensation on the face (usually around the eyebrows or nose), mostly at night. Although studies have shown that 98% of the population have demodex and that these mites actually provide a role in processing dead skin and reducing the risk of infections, they can cause a problem when normal balance is disturbed or when our immune systems create an unusual response to them. Inflammation, infection, or skin sloughing off and breaking out in to a rash can result when large numbers of these mites congregate in a single follicle. They have also been linked to acne as some doctors think that an abundance of mites can clog the pores, and allow for the growth of bacteria on the skin.

We tend to gain more of these mites as we get older, and Dr. William Regelson, of the Medical College of Virginia has proposed that Demodex is even implicated in hair loss. He speculates that whether people will eventually lose their hair or not is likely to depend on whether the scalp produces an inflammatory reaction in an attempt to reject the mite.

The mite can not be totally eradicated since it is transferred by face to face contact, so the answer is to continually keep it under control. Green Tea Cleanser and Moisturiser can help (as shown in one small study by Syed Skincare Inc.), but it seems that the most positive results come from using Tea Tree Oil or Sea Buckthorn Oil. Research has shown that Demodex is killed by Tea Tree Oil (in 6 minutes) and by Sea Buckthorn Oil. Pure Tea Tree Oil or Sea Buckthorn Oil might not always be tolerated by people with very sensitive skin but there are a number of effective products combining them with other oils in the form of cleansers, soaps, moisturisers and shampoos.

Demodex can survive for up to 52 hours on bedding where sebum and skin cells are present. It is therefore sensible to wash your hair at least every two days with a Sea Buckthorn or Tea Tree Oil based shampoo, or simply by adding a few drops of pure Tea Tree Oil to the shampoo on your hand each time you wash your hair (leaving it on for 10 minutes before rinsing). Changing your pillow cases every two days can help, as can washing your bedding with a perfume-free and dye-free detergent, adding 10 drops of Tea Tree Oil to each load.

It is particularly important to cleanse your face in the evening, since these mites are more active at night, and when they come into contact with bacteria they carry it down into your pores. Adding 5% of Tea Tree Oil to your existing moisturizer is one way of controlling them. This amounts to roughly a teaspoon for every 100ml of moisturizer – or one drop to every application. What adding the tea tree oil to your moisturizer also does is create a more penetrating moisturizer, thus delivering the moisturizer’s properties deeper into your skin. It is sensible to use Tea Tree Oil cream twice daily, but if the cream is too irritating for your skin you could try using it every second day, with Green Tea and Gingko cream on alternate days.

Otherwise, you can try Sea Buckthorn, a berry which has renowned nourishing, revitalizing, and restorative properties. It can be used very effectively for acne, dermatitis, irritated, dry, itchy or sore skin, eczema, skin ulcers, stretch marks, burns, scalds, cuts, burns, bed sores and tissue regeneration. Sea Buckthorn is a naturally high source of vitamins A, C and E, carotenes and flavonoids, as well as vitamins B1, B2, K and P, essential fatty acids (3,6,7, and 9) and phytosterols. Dr. Neal Bhatia, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the UCSD, Sand Diego said patients have found the oil, used in both soap and skin cream, to be an excellent natural weapon against the parasite and therefore the disease. Again, it can be added to existing cleansers and moisturisers, or you can try one of the ready mixed products available at our online store.

A number of products are available at http://www.thenaturalshop.co.uk. They are specifically listed at The Natural Shop Blog.

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