No sign of any rosacea for an even-toned Cate Blanchett. Photo: Getty
The only place you want to see the colour red is on your lips or nails. Red, broken capillaries on your nose, cheeks or chin just make you look like an alcoholic judge who’s had too many long lunches.
There are a couple of ways to treat redness. Dr Jacinta Keoghan from Zecca Cosmedical says, ‘‘Redness in your skin are from two main factors - firstly it can be hereditary and secondly, especially in Australia, from too much sun exposure. And if you have one or both of those then alcohol and caffeine exacerbates it.’’
Rosacea is a specific skin condition that generally generally affects the centre of the nose and butterflies out to your cheeks - general redness is not rosacea. ‘‘The best treatments for redness are initially avoiding the sun, but if the damage is done then laser is the gold standard. Specifically Gemini laser and candela VBeam laser,’’ says Keoghan.
‘‘When you’re using the laser it omits a wavelength of light that is targeted to red blood cells so it’s taken up by those red blood cells and it puts heat into them and shuts the capillary down.’’
People often ask if it’s unhealthy to shut them down but the blood vessels around your face, but broken capillaries are not normal blood vessels; they have been created by your body in response to some sort of environmental stress. You can reduce capillaries and redness by 80 per cent, often in just one treatment (Zecca charges about $395 per treatment).
‘‘People are blown away with the results,’’ says Keoghan. ‘‘They put up with thick concealer around their nose when they have beautiful skin everywhere else and cannot believe you can clear it up. They literally do just disappear in front of your eyes.’’
If that’s a bit pricey, make-up king, Napoleon Perdis, says you can also use green-based make-up to conceal redness. ‘‘My go-to product to help treat redness in the skin is my NP Set Calming Pre-Foundation Primer [RRP $29]. It contains Aloe Extract and Cucumber to help calm and soothe the skin. Apply a little to the centre of the face (which is where redness tends to occur) and give it a minute or three to have an effect - focus on your eye makeup while you wait - and follow with any concealing you may need to do." Reddy, set, go.
From: Sunday Life
