Skin Redness: How to Reduce Redness on Your Face
Do you experience skin redness on your face? If so, there are things you can do. We explore why facial redness occurs and provide you with tips on how to help reduce redness on your face and how to help prevent this skin concern.
What Causes Facial Redness?
Facial redness has many causes. These can be skin conditions like eczema, acne, rosacea, and psoriasis. You can also get redness on your face from sun damage, skin irritation, over-exfoliation, and dry skin.
How to Help Prevent Redness on Your Face
If your skin redness is caused by a skin condition, it’s important to tackle that condition by using suitable skincare products and by consulting with your doctor. If you have eczema, take a look at our article A Beginner's Guide To Eczema: What To Know & Care Tips.
There are also some general tips that can help prevent facial redness caused by dryness.
Use an SPF Product to Protect from Sun Damage
If your skin redness is caused by a skin condition, it’s important to tackle that condition by using suitable skincare products and by consulting with your doctor. If you have eczema-prone skin, take a look at our article A Beginner's Guide To Eczema: What To Know & Care Tips.
There are also some general tips that can help prevent facial redness.
Use an SPF product to protect from sun damage
Protecting your skin from sun damage is a key way to prevent skin redness caused by sunburn and irritation. UV rays from the sun are a major trigger of flushing in individuals with rosacea. If you have rosacea it’s important to wear sunscreen every day, even when it’s cloudy, as UVA rays can penetrate clouds. Cetaphil Sheer Mineral Sunscreen Face Liquid Broad Spectrum SPF 50 is a lightweight sunscreen that can be worn daily under makeup.
While sunlight can sometimes improve psoriasis, sunburn can worsen psoriasis flare-ups. Make sure you don’t get sunburnt, because this can intensify your skin condition.1,2
Cetaphil mineral sunscreens provide protection from UVB and UVA rays and are suitable for sensitive skin. When applying sunscreen make sure you use enough on your face and body and reapply regularly. Find out how often you should apply sunscreen in our article How Long Does Sunscreen Last?
Be Careful with Exfoliation
Exfoliating your skin too much can cause skin redness. This can also occur if the chemical exfoliant is too harsh on your skin, or if you scrub very hard with a physical exfoliant that contains small granules.
If you have skin conditions such as rosacea or psoriasis you should check with your dermatologist whether exfoliation is right for you. There are gentle scrubs available like Cetaphil Extra Gentle Daily Scrub, which are suitable for sensitive skin.
Learn more about how to exfoliate your skin properly in our article Exfoliation: What Is It? Why Is It Important? How Do I Do It Properly?
Use Gentle Skincare Products
Some skincare ingredients can irritate your skin and cause skin redness. To prevent this from occurring, it’s important to choose products with mild ingredients. One ingredient which is gentle on your skin is panthenol.
Panthenol moisturizes and soothes your skin. It also helps to boost your skin’s barrier function. Try Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream as part of your skincare routine, it’s proven to be gentle on sensitive skin.
Other products which are beneficial for sensitive skin include those that are hypoallergenic or fragrance-free. Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser Fragrance Free can deeply cleanse your skin while remaining gentle on your skin.
Lifestyle Changes
Your diet could also cause face flushing. It may be useful to limit the intake of spicy foods, alcohol, or very hot drinks, especially if you have rosacea.
Additionally, it’s important to keep your skin protected from the effects of weather changes. As well as sun damage, windy and cold weather can dry out your skin, which can lead to skin redness. Find out more in our article How to Take Care of Dry Skin in Winter.
Moisturize at Night
If you have dry skin it’s important to apply a moisturizer overnight as this can help to prevent moisture loss. During the night, ingredients have more time to be absorbed without being exposed to the outside world.
4 Skincare Ingredients to Help with Redness on Your Face
If you experience redness on your face, there are some skincare ingredients that can help:
Allantoin is extracted from the comfrey plant and has been shown to help with skin renewal and damage repair.3 Allantoin can help to reduce redness on your face and can be found in Cetaphil Foaming Face Wash for Redness Prone Skin, which cleanses and soothes redness-prone skin.
Caffeine is a useful ingredient that can help tackle redness-prone skin. It has antioxidant properties and helps to protect against sun damage and signs of aging.[4,5] Cetaphil Redness Relieving Daily Facial Moisturizer SPF 20 contains both allantoin and caffeine to help soothe redness. It also provides SPF protection.
Licorice extract is an effective ingredient as it tackles both irritation and inflammation, which can lead to facial redness. Studies have shown that licorice extract can soothe redness, swelling, and itch.6 Licorice extract can also improve hyperpigmentation (dark spots on your skin), especially if it was caused by sun damage.
Cetaphil Redness Relieving Night Moisturizer is a nourishing night moisturizer enriched with licorice extract. This moisturizer can improve your skin’s texture while reducing the appearance of redness. Take a deep dive into some of the key ingredients used in Cetaphil products.
Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3 used in skincare and can protect your skin from many of the triggers of skin redness. Niacinamides also increase production of lipids called ceramides, which are vital in supporting your skin’s ability to protect itself.[7]
To benefit from the protective effect of niacinamide, use Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser to thoroughly wash your skin and then apply Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream. Both products are boosted with niacinamide.
If dry skin is causing your facial redness, you may benefit from the moisturizing effects of ceramides by trying Cetaphil Intensive Healing Lotion with Ceramides. Suitable for rough, flaky, and sensitive skin, this lotion hydrates and smooths rough, flaky skin for 24 hours.
The Bottom Line
By following the key tips in this article you can help to avoid, calm, and reduce redness on your face. If you think you have a medical condition causing redness you should speak to your doctor to help find the right solution.
References
- Taking care of your skin in summer. National Psoriasis Foundation. https://www.psoriasis.org/advance/taking-care-of-your-skin-in-summer/ Accessed December 21, 2022.
- Sunscreen for rosacea. National Rosacea Society. https://www.rosacea.org/patients/skin-care/sunscreen-for-rosacea Accessed December 21, 2022.
- Araújo LU, Grabe-Guimarães A, Mosqueira VC, Carneiro CM, Silva-Barcellos NM. Profile of wound healing process induced by allantoin. Acta Cir Bras. 2010;25(5):460-466. doi:10.1590/s0102-86502010000500014.
- Herman A, Herman AP. Caffeine’s mechanisms of action and its cosmetic use. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2013;26(1):8-14. doi:10.1159/000343174.
- .Dewi SR, Cahyono A, Rafika P, et al. The Comparison of the Effects of Caffeine Topical 0.25% and 0.5% as Anti-wrinkle Therapy. Proceedings of the 23rd Regional Conference of Dermatology (RCD 2018), 113-117. doi: 10.5220/0008152001130117.
- Saeedi M, Morteza‐Semnani K, Ghoreishi MR. The treatment of atopic dermatitis with licorice gel. J Dermatolog Treat. 2003;14(3):153-157. doi:10.1080/09546630310014369.
- Tanno O, Ota Y, Kitamura N, Katsube T, Inoue S. Nicotinamide increases biosynthesis of ceramides as well as other stratum corneum lipids to improve the epidermal permeability barrier. Br J Dermatol. 2000;143(3):524-531. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2133.2000.03705.x
Cetaphil Skincare Products for Redness Relief
Gentle Skin Cleanser
Gentle Skin Cleanser
Gentle Skin Cleanser
Gentle Skin Cleanser
Gentle Skin Cleanser
