Rosacea—it annoyingly affects about 3% of the population, usually fair-skinned women from ages 30 to 50, and causes redness and inflammation of the skin around the nose, cheeks and chin. And though there are several treatments for it, including these two new skin-care products by Avene that soothe redness, we’ve never really known the bacterial cause of the skin condition.
But a new review by the National University of Ireland has found that rosacea may be triggered by bacteria that live in tiny mites called Demodex folliculorum that reside on the skin—everyone’s skin. In fact, the number of these mites living on the face increases with age and with skin damage (like after exposure to the sun). There just happens to be more of them living on the skin of rosacea patients.
The bacteria that lives inside the mites has been found to produce molecules that provoke an immune reaction in rosacea patients, and since they live in the digestive tract of the mites, when they die, the bacteria actually release into the skin which causes inflammation.
So while this new information might sound like bad news, it’s actually good. After all, finding the trigger could help in treatment of rosacea by targeting the bacteria or even finding ways to control the amount of Demodex mites on the face.
