Why is my face always red
10 REASONS YOUR FACE IS RED ALL THE TIME & HOW TO GET RID OF REDNESS // DERMATOLOGIST @DrDrayzday
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well hey guys i'm a board certified
dermatologist and in this video we're
going to be covering 10 reasons why your
face is red and what to do about it now
there are more than 10 possible reasons
for facial redness but for the sake of
this video i'm just going to cover ten
number one is seborrheic dermatitis this
is a pretty common skin condition i know
a lot of you guys out there deal with it
it consists of these red patches
sometimes around the nose on the
forehead really anywhere on the face the
kind of greasy tends to happen in people
with a tendency towards oily skin and
they're covered with kind of scaliness
yellow scale can be kind of flaky this
is a chronic skin condition it comes and
goes it flares with stress if you get
run down or get sick and it can flare
seasonally especially in the winter time
what can you do about it well this
condition is aggravated by a little
yeast that lives on our skin that
actually is the same cause of dandruff
called malassezia and anti-dandruff
shampoos help calm down the inflammatory
response to this yeast and you can use
these on your face the way to use them
is to allow them to the affected areas
of your face let that lather sit on
there for a few minutes and then rinse
it off you also can use face washes with
salicylic acid
and of course see a board-certified
dermatologist because there are some
prescription treatments that can
likewise help as well number two is
post-inflammatory erythema this is
persistent redness that happens as a
result of healing acne the inflammatory
response in acne is so robust it can
cause blood vessel dilation and a lot of
little blood vessel changes beneath the
skin that remained for a prolonged
period of time even after the acne is
under good control this happens in acne
that is often cystic and very
inflammatory the redness varies in
intensity from faint light pink to a
deep red and it's not just the face if
you had acne on your chest or your back
or your neck that can heal with
post-inflammatory erythema the good news
is with time it will fade provided the
acne is treated and under good control
how you can get it to go away faster see
a board certified dermatologist pulse
dye laser
ktp laser and even ipl can help calm
these down and help them go away faster
and in the meantime
continuing your acne treatments likewise
can help
in hastening the resolution of
post-inflammatory erythema especially
prescription tretinoin because it helps
to strengthen the deeper layers of the
skin it helps with healing the damage in
the deeper layers of the skin including
those dilated blood vessels if you have
acne and a tendency to heal with
persistent redness whatever you do don't
pick your acne because that is going to
make it more likely to heal with a
persistent mark whether it be redness or
discoloration and of course sunscreen
and sun protection is key because uv
rays from the sun including the uva rays
that come through window glass as you're
sitting by a window slow the healing
process down and damage those deeper
layers of the skin so ongoing sun
protection is imperative number three
rosacea rosacea is a really common skin
condition it consists of episodes of
flushing and blushing at first it's
intermittent redness and with time as
the condition progresses it can remain
persistent you can have little pimple
like bumps
and this is most often triggered by
uv exposure it can happen as a result of
consuming hot liquids irritating skin
care products spicy food
stress
but every individual with rosacea
differs in terms of what their triggers
are if you are dealing with rosacea i
suggest keeping a diary of your triggers
because moving forward avoiding those
triggers is going to be key now i have
videos all about rosacea and tips for
rosacea so definitely check those out
but this is a common reason for
persistent facial redness you can see a
board certified dermatologist and
rosacea treatments can help control the
inflammation in the skin that leads to
that redness and
lasers also can help clear up that
redness so the pulse dye laser the ktp
they're going to target the blood vessel
component of the rosacea and can help
with persistent facial redness if you
have rosacea keep your skin care routine
really basic sunscreen is essential
because again uv rays trigger flares a
gentle mild cleanser and a bland
moisturizer irritating skin care
products are very poorly tolerated in
people with rosacea including many
exfoliants of course it varies from
person to person but the safest approach
is to keep your routine as simple and
basic as possible and not not chase
after a lot of trendy ingredients
some ingredients like fragrances
including menthol can actually have a
vasodilatory effect worsening redness
number four is allergic contact
dermatitis i talk about this all the
time in my videos but it is a reason for
facial redness you have developed an
allergy to an ingredient that you come
in contact with it may be something in
your skin care products but it may also
be something that you use to clean your
home it may be something that you're
exposed to at work it may be something
that you use in your hair care products
allergens in skincare products that are
most common include fragrance certain
preservatives like methyl
isothiazolinone
this is something that stumps a lot of
people because it can happen to you an
ingredient in a product that you've been
using for years so you may not make that
connection that you have developed an
allergy to a certain ingredient usually
the rash appears a day or so after
you've come in contact with the allergen
and it can happen
most often where exactly where you have
come in contact with the allergens so
say for example you're allergic to
something in your blush you may have
contact dermatitis on your cheeks but
that's not always the case with allergic
contact dermatitis because skin at
certain body sites is thin and more
vulnerable to developing rashes to
ingredients that you are allergic to
specifically the eye area
so a common presentation of allergy to
gold for example is an eyelid dermatitis
because you are touching your eyes and
transferring that allergen to your eyes
how do you know if you have allergic
contact dermatitis well it doesn't get
better unless you avoid the allergens so
in order to figure out what you are
allergic to you have to see a board
certified dermatologist for something
called patch testing to determine what
ingredient you are allergic to
and then you have to avoid it simple as
that
number five is irritant contact
dermatitis this is different from
allergic contact dermatitis and that
basically you develop irritation to
either an ingredient or a product
overall something that comes in contact
with the skin but it's not just skin
care products that can be irritating
household care household products are
irritants
dishwashing detergent is a common
irritant an irritant contact dermatitis
in contrast to allergic contact
dermatitis it will cause a rash in
pretty much anybody provided you are
exposed to it in sufficient quantities
and perhaps under certain conditions so
conditions that lend themselves to
irritation are anywhere we have skin on
skin contact like under the arms for
example but when we're talking about the
face skin care products are common
culprits in irritant contact dermatitis
some skin care products are intended to
exfoliate exfoliate and they cause a
localized irritant reaction with
irritant contact dermatitis it's not
even just an ingredient or a product
sometimes it's simply using too many
products this is why i stressed out you
guys to keep your routine simple because
the more products you use the more
likely for an irritant reaction because
you're just using too much it starts to
compromise the health of your skin
barrier whose function it is to keep
irritating stuff out and then you end up
with an irritant contact dermatitis say
you're layering a bunch of serums some
of them have irritating ingredients
maybe even fragrance which can be
irritating in addition to an allergen
so you can see how keeping it simple is
is the best approach like my tip for
rosacea keep your skincare routine
really simple and really bland just
switch to a mild fragrance free cleanser
and a bland moisturizer
and
sunscreen for sun protection all right
number six is sun damage this is more
common in older adults it's more obvious
in those with a paler skin type
uv rays because they damage the
supportive framework of the skin that
lends itself to a lot of vasodilation
and persistent redness so you may
notice for example in older caucasian
males have maybe persistently red cheeks
with a lot of dilated blood vessels this
is a sign of sun damage and it kind of
looks like rosacea but it is persistent
and it's not necessarily aggravated by
things that come in contact with the
skin there are no symptoms of stinging
or burning like with rosacea there's not
really any flakiness like with
seborrheic dermatitis laser procedures
like pole style laser can help improve
the look of sun damaged skin and ongoing
use of a topical retinoid likewise can
be helpful because retinoids help to
improve the strength of the deeper
layers of the skin and heal that damage
and boost up collagen production
improving the look of sun damage
including persistent redness number
seven is topical steroids all right
topical steroids a lot of people
actually are phobic of these what are
they they're a medication that we
prescribe or you can buy one you know a
weak one over the counter called
hydrocortisone
um they're used to treat a variety of
skin conditions but for a certain amount
of time if you use a topical steroid too
long there are risks there are side
effects and one of them is persistent
redness and the face is especially prone
to this this is actually a common
problem people self-treat with a topical
steroid that maybe they got in the past
they develop a rash and they self-treat
it with that topical steroid and they
keep using it and the steroid calms down
whatever inflammation they have but as
soon as they stop they get a rebound
worsening of redness i'm gonna list some
common ones down below in the
description box but if you have been
ever given a prescription for a cream
and you still have it around don't just
self treat with that later on down the
road make sure that it's a still okay to
use it find out what exactly it is
because there are potential risks and
side effects with self-treating
especially in the case of topical
steroids and persistent facial redness
is an adverse effect from prolonged
unnecessary use of a topical steroid to
the face now for some people who really
need some control of inflammation in
their skin say they have eczema
and so for those folks who
you know benefit from using a topical
steroid the goal is to
wean them off a bit
to either just be using moisturizers and
avoiding triggers of their eczema
or switch them to a steroid sparing
medication now in the case of eczema we
have a lot of new medications that we
can give that are steroid sparing but
there are alternatives is what i'm
getting at to topical steroids so a
don't self-treat with one and b see a
dermatologist if you have a problem that
is addressed by a topical steroid and
you've been using it for a while
just make sure that it's okay to
continue using it or you know maybe it's
time for you to switch to choose
something that would be steroid sparing
to spare you of any potential adverse
side effects from prolonged use of a
topical steroid but i want to emphasize
that topical steroids are not bad or
scary there is a lot of topical steroid
phobia out there that is not you know
necessary they are safe but you should
only really use them under the
supervision of your dermatologist number
eight might surprise you but facial
redness can
come just before a migraine
about 70 percent of people who deal with
migraines have prodromal symptoms of
flushing redness they can develop
redness in the eye tearing of the eye a
swollen eyelid some cases their ears
turn red and the redness you know it
resolves once the migraine goes away
it's not permanent but that is another
reason why you may have facial redness
is it can be a sign of a migraine
there's actually a study that shows a
link between having rosacea and having
migraines that's really interesting this
can often be accompanied with a
sensation of a fullness in the ear and
the redness it actually starts out in
many cases as turning really pale and
then you get a flush
and then you have the migraine symptoms
of debilitating headache the treatment
for this is going to be seeing a
neurologist
for treatment of your migraine but you
know if you have migraine headaches and
you're getting facial redness that co
that goes along with it definitely it
can be a symptom of a migraine this
redness can also affect the chest and
the neck and again like i said the tops
of the ears
but knowing that this is a symptom that
you're about to have a migraine i think
it can be very powerful see a
neurologist and they can get you on a
treatment plan and just having these
symptoms and identifying him and have a
migraine that can help clue you into
when it's appropriate to take a
medication to abort the migraine which
if you've ever had a migraine
it can be i mean it will it can just
debilitate you completely i mean you
have to go in a dark room in many cases
it is miserable i've had one in my life
never again i thought i was having a
stroke actually it was very scary and
then i realized i was having a migraine
all right number nine is diabetes
recently i did a video on what diabetes
does to your skin if you'll recall from
that video you can have persistent
facial redness in diabetics it's called
rubiosis it's actually pretty common and
it can happen not only for the face but
like the neck the chest and the upper
arms as well and it's thought to be due
to the effects of having high blood
sugar on the blood vessels that course
through the skin leading to dilation and
the formation of what's called advanced
glycation end products basically kind of
glom onto the collagen supportive
framework and lead to inflammation and
persistent redness
now there's not necessarily a cure for
this but when the blood sugar is under
better control this can improve
and last but certainly not least is
lupus lupus is an autoimmune disease and
by autoimmune what that means is
basically your immune system gets super
confused and starts attacking you
and it can attack different organs and
in the case of lupus your immune system
can attack a variety of different organs
and it can make rashes in your skin
the classic rash of lupus is a facial
rash referred to as a butterfly rash why
if you take a step back and kind of
squint your eyes it looks like the shape
of a butterfly it involves both cheeks
and the bridge of the nose and it is
often like either light pink to bright
red and it can last a few
hours or a couple of days and it often
is triggered by
sun exposure fortunately when it goes
away it does not scar
but especially in people with deeper
skin tones it can leave behind some
discoloration there can be dilated blood
vessels but unlike rosacea and unlike
seborrheic dermatitis the rash of lupus
does not evolve at all the nasolabial
folds right here it will spare that so
you'll get a sharp sparing of that and
that can be a clue that what you're
dealing with is more likely a lupus
flare how do you treat this well in the
case of lupus aggressive sun protection
is a mainstay because uv exposure
including uv rays that come through
window glass can aggravate this disease
and so sun protection is essential
including not only sunscreen but
sun avoidance wearing a broad brimmed
hat all the behaviors that we talk about
on this channel when it comes to
protecting your skin from the sun
when it comes to lupus they are a
non-negotiable you can't weasel out of
them it can put you in the house of pain
you definitely need to see your doctor
about this one because there aren't any
products that are going to address lupus
besides sunscreen
and
in the case of lupus you know it the
skin sometimes it can just stay
localized to the skin but in other cases
it can involve other body systems and so
some monitoring may be needed so
definitely check in with your doctor and
there are medications that can help
control the rashes that are applied
either to the skin or that are taken by
mouth so long story short there are
medications that people who have lupus
oftentimes need to go on to control
their disease it's a serious it's a
serious condition not something that you
can you know stroll into sephora and
find a product that's going to take care
of it sun protection is a mainstay
all right you guys those are 10 reasons
for facial redness but again i've only
scratched the surface there are many
other possible reasons but hopefully you
learned some new ones maybe things you
weren't aware of comment below on if you
deal with facial redness i hope you
liked this video if so give it a thumbs
up share it with your friends and as
always don't forget sunscreen and
subscribe i'll talk to you guys tomorrow
bye
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