Happy rosacea awareness month! As a rosacea sufferer this is another opportunity to shine the light on a condition that can be anything from a little bit irritating through to really miserable. We have lots of resources for rosacea sufferers on the ESK website- and a reminder that our FREE rosacea eBook is packed with evidence based info to keep your skin looking and feeling healthy and soothed!

Now settle in for the latest in this month’s ESK journal trawl!

The importance of an acidic skin pH for eczema

Ok, you must be sick of us rabbiting on all the time about skin pH. Well, a new UK based study confirms this.

In healthy people, pH of the skin is acidic, ranging from 4.1 to 5.8. Keeping that acidic skin pH. Is critical for maintaining the skin barrier. In this study, adults with eczema were treated with either a placebo or a combination of zinc and Lactobionic acid in a moisturizer to lower the skin’s pH (make it more acidic). The zinc and Lactobionic acid combo cream was used on one forearm and lowered the pH of the skin to around 4.5. A control cream was used on the other forearm, where the average pH was measured at 5.2. That doesn’t seem like a big difference in skin pH, but the results were pretty impressive. The forearm with the treated skin experienced less itch and sensitivity, less redness and more moisture retained. Yet again, the pH of your skincare matters. At ESK we are ALWAYS transparent with the pH of our skincare products. If you aren’t sure about the pH of your skincare, ask the company to tell you. And if they don’t tell you, I’d guess it’s high.

The gut skin axis in rosacea- we are learning more all the time.

The bacteria in the gut microbiome act as regulators of your immune system. In fact, about 70% of all of your lymphocyte white blood cells are found in the gut. We now know that changes in both the composition and the diversity of the gut microbiota can lead to immunological and inflammatory disturbances in organs that sit far from the gut, including the skin. We call this the skin gut axis. A new review of this relationship- specifically in rosacea was published in the journal, Frontiers in Microbiology. Specifically, the authors were pondering the idea that changing your gut microbiome composition could help fix rosacea. So here’s what we know; people with rosacea have DIFFERENT gut bugs to those without rosacea. The more severe the rosacea symptoms, the more out of whack the gut bugs. And it stands to reason that prebiotics, probiotics and even postbiotics may well work. But we don’t have the evidence for now. Watch this space!!

Rosacea update from the ODAC Dermatology, Aesthetic & Surgical Conference in Florida

This was in February but we thought you might like to have a quick whiz through the rosacea presentations from this dermatology conference? We’ve got you! The delegates heard about Botox for rosacea. Only a few case reports so far. And there were LOTs of needles- evenly ALL OVER the face!! Ouch!! But it looks like the redness from flushing rosacea might respond very well. We need more studies so watch this space! And if that doesn’t work, the antidepressant paroxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, could be an option for redness from rosacea, too. The delegates talked about a trial in which almost 43% of people treated with paroxetine had less redness after 12 weeks compared with almost 21% who took a placebo. Finally, a cream containing a low-molecular-weight heparan sulfate analog was studied in 16

people who also had pulsed dye laser. They did better than those getting laser and a simple moisturiser. We’ll be staying up to date with all the big dermatology conferences and so you will be too!

Happy April and bring on May!!