6 Natural Solutions for Rosacea and Skin Health

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whenever you're checking us out, welcome to another edition of the wellness talk podcast. I am George Bautista, your host and your wellness advocate. Wellness talk is a show that goes over the latest in health, healing, nutrition, and fitness. Today, we're going to focus on a specific topic today, and our discussion today is going to be on the skin, largest organ in the body, right? So we're going to talk about skin issues, okay? So whether you're dealing with, whether it's rosacea or dermatitis or eczema or even acne or whatever types of issues that you're dealing with, check this out because we're going to have a lot of possible solutions for you to check out. Of course, you know, as always on this show, we look at the problems, but then we also look at the solutions, right? So we're really going to dive into the skin today because you wouldn't, you'd be shocked at the amount of people that have skin issues and don't even know how to deal with. Actually as I've worked with people throughout the years, a lot of people came to me with issues specifically either with rosacea issues or with eczema, eczema was a big deal. And even when I was younger, I had eczema issues as well. And I had to learn how to deal with that and, you know, flare ups and different things like that. So, um, I think it's, you know, I think it's pretty relevant to talk about the skin, especially as we're getting into the winter months, skin gets drier, there's more, uh, of a chance of issues, you know, skin issues developing, especially in the winter months with all these different things that are circulating and stuff like that. So today specifically, our discussion is going to be on the skin. So first we're going to talk a little bit about the anatomy of the skin and, you know, just to kind of give you a frame of reference, exactly what the skin does and the different layers of the skin, uh, definitely things you need to know about and maybe some things you didn't know about the skin. So obviously on the show, we educate you of course. And then from there, uh, we're going to get into our pieces, uh, for this weekend. The first one's going to be by Jillian Levy and this is rosacea treatment, six natural ways to treat your skin. So rosacea is a really common skin condition that affects so many people. So we're going to dive into, uh, rosacea exactly what it is, what are the possible causes and what are the things that you can do, you know, particularly on the natural side to help yourself right and maybe give you a, you know, uh, put you at less risk for any kind of flare-ups if you're dealing with this. And again, you can look at this not only for rosacea today, we're going to be focusing on rosacea, but again, you can look at it through the lens of eczema, through the lens of dermatitis or even, you know, whatever type of skin issues that you are dealing with because you know, it's pretty much all not necessarily all the same, you know, cause they do have different triggers and, and you know, different causes necessarily, but they're all inflammation at the end of the day, skin flare-ups are, you know, inflammation. Now the cause of that inflammation obviously is from different types of things. So we're going to take a look at that. So, but again, definitely check this out and it's worth really, you know, diving into of course. And then we're also going to, um, look at another piece that we're going to kind of mix in. This is from wellness resources and it's rosacea linked with gut nerve and immune system dysfunction. Okay. So those of you who think maybe rosacea and or any of these other skin issues are just a skin issue, we're actually going to go deeper because many of the skin issues are actually internal. A lot of people don't realize it, right? Gut issues, many types of issues in terms of candida, in terms of leaky gut, all these types of things are seeing that a lot of that is, you know, a lot of these skin issues are stemming from the gut and from the immune system and they're affecting the immune system and you're seeing all this dysfunction. So we're going to talk about that as well. So it's going to be a big discussion today. It's going to be a lot of stuff. So make sure you get your pens and papers ready to jot down some notes. And of course there's always, we give you, you know, we try to come from it from the natural side, give you the natural solutions as much as possible on this show because that's what we do. And obviously if you are, you're dealing with skin issues with your doctor, you continue to do that. This is just some other things to think about. So that's what we got on tap for today. So again, it's all skin today. So of course go to georgebautista.com and check out all the articles that we go over. All the articles are there. You can check them out. You can read them for yourselves. You can like share and subscribe and you can send these articles to friends and family. And of course I hope you do that because that's how we share this information and get this out there of course. And if you want to support the show, thank you to everyone of course who supports the show on a regular basis. If you want to do so as well, click on the front of the website. 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I do what I talk about, but it's important because again, at the end of the day, I want to have a good quality of life, right? As best as best quality of life I can, I don't know how long I'm going to be on this planet, but for the time that I'm here, if I can help someone else and I can pay it forward, that's what I want to do. Okay. So that's the mission of this show. And I, again, thank you so much for helping us. Thank you so much for following us and for, uh, you know, just, uh, even if you're just sharing the information, it's, it's, it's a, you know, it's an honor and a privilege to share it with you and hopefully you can share it with others. So thank you for that. All right, guys. So before, uh, of course we get into it, we want to talk about our, uh, you know, sponsors for the show, of course. And the big one is of course, wellness resources. Now wellness resources, uh, I talk about them all the time. I cite their supplements all the time on the show. Of course, they're a 35 year old, a nutritional supplement company that's on the forefront of clinical nutrition. They use amazing high quality nutrients and supplements, and they're always making them better and better, but they use the science to do it. Okay. They've been manufacturing these high quality supplements since 1985. So make sure you check them out because they have amazing supplements. I use their supplements every single day. I've been using them for 17 years now or 18 years now at this point, I've lost track at this point, but all I know is that I feel good when I take their supplements and, um, you know, they've helped me out in many different ways. So I want to, again, pay it forward to you guys so you can check out their supplements and see how good they really are. So make sure you go to my vitamin resource.com to check out all the supplements. And of course they have their monthly specials this month. It's 25% off their skin joint and repair supplements. We're talking about the skin today. So of course any, any of these nutrients that we talk about here, you can check them out because they typically have all the nutrients that we talk about on this show. So again, check out wellness resources, supplements at my vitamin resource.com. All right guys. So, uh, let's get started on our discussion for this week. And again, we're going to dive into the skin and skin issues and rosacea, why it's important, why you should be paying attention to these types of issues and what are the causes. And again, some of the causes may surprise you. You're hearing a lot more about, you know, what the causes are in the natural world and natural side and why you should be paying attention to this. So let's talk a little bit about the skin first so you guys can just get a frame of reference. You know, obviously the skin is the largest, uh, organ in the body made pretty much of water, proteins and minerals. Okay. Your skin is designed to protect your body from germs. Okay. It also regulates body temperature. Okay. It has many layers of protection and actually the skin, a lot of people don't know is part of your immune system. Okay. A lot of people don't know that. Okay. So nerves in the skin also help you feel sensations like hot and cold and these types of skins, but also your skin along with your hair, your nails, your glands, your sweat glands, they're all part of this system called the integumentary system. Okay. Again, it's the integumentary system. You may or may not have heard of that, but integumentary means body's outer covering. That's what literally means. Okay. So now the skin has three basic layers. Okay. You have the epidermis, you have the dermis, and then you have the hypodermis and each one has a different function. Okay. So the epidermis is the top layer of the skin. The dermis is the middle layer and the hypodermis is the kind of the under layer or the bottom kind of more of the fatty layer of the skin. So what, you know, so we'll, we'll take each one of those just so you can kind of see what each one of them does. Okay. So what is the epidermis or the top layer do? It's basically the active protective barrier of, of your body. Right. Okay. So it keeps bacteria and germs from entering the body and entering the bloodstream. Right. Okay. And, you know, it does whatever it can to stop, uh, these germs and bacteria from causing infections. It also helps to protect against things, you know, from the outer, uh, things in the, uh, in the, uh, you know, in the, uh, the outer layers of, you know, all the stuff that's out there like the sun and the, and the rain and all the elements that are out there. So it protects you from those types of things as well. Okay. But it also helps to make new skin. Now the epidermis continually makes new skin cells and the new skin cell cells replace approximately 40,000 old skin cells of your body that sheds every single day. So you have to remember your skin sheds. Remember when you're taking a shower or these types of things, right? Your skin sheds, you may see, you may see flakes and these types of things in your skin. Well that's your skin shedding every single day and your skin, your entire skin system is brand new every 30 days. Okay. Just some things to think about. Okay. And again, it also protects your body. Okay. So we have what's called the Langerhans or the Langerhans cells in the epidermis are part of the body's immune system. Remember what I said that the skin is part of your immune system. Okay. So it helps to fight off germs again and infections. Okay. It also provides skin color. The epidermis contains what's called melanin, okay, which is the pigment that gives you your skin color. Now, the amount of melanin that you have determines the color of your skin, your hair, your eyes, these types of things. People who make more melanin have darker skin like myself. For example, I'm a darker fellow, right? And may tan, you know, and may tan more quickly or it also depends, right? Now again, I have a darker skin color and I could be outside in the sun and not sunburn versus somebody who's lighter than me who may sunburn or get red very quickly. Okay. But again, that's the melanin in the skin. That's just the skin pigment, right? It also, and I've talked about it on this show as well. It also determines how much vitamin D you get from the sun, how much vitamin D is made through the process of the sun. And it also determines how long you can be out there, you know, getting your vitamin D before you get burned and these types of things. So that's the outer layer. Then we have the dermis, right? Or the middle layer of the skin. Now, what does that do? That has collagen and what's called elastin. Now collagen, many of you know, collagen is a protein that makes skin cells strong and resilient. Okay. And another protein found in the dermis is called elastin, which helps to keep the skin flexible. So, you know, when you grab your skin, for example, if you pinch your skin and it, you know, goes back to normal, as you know, especially when you're younger, right? That's the elastin. You have strong elastin. Okay. It helps to, it helps to protect your skin and helps stretch skin, really regain its shape. Now, obviously as you get older, the elastin starts to degrade. So this is where wrinkles start to come in. This is where, you know, if you grab your skin and you pull it or whatever, it doesn't go back to, you know, to normal so quickly, right? Things that happen as you get older. So just a part of the aging process. This, this part of the skin also helps to grow hair. Okay. The roots of your hair follicles attach to the dermis. Okay. Also the dermis keeps you in touch, right? The nerves in the dermis tell you when something is too hot or too cold, okay, or super soft. Okay. The nerve receptors also help you feel pain. Okay. Keep that in mind. The dermis also helps you make oil. Okay. So oil glands in the dermis help keep the skin soft and smooth. Oil also prevents your skin from absorbing too much water. When you swim or get, let's say you get caught in a rainstorm or something like that. Some of us have more oily skin than others. I tend to be one of those folks that have more oily skin. Sometimes you can see it, especially in the summertime. So my skin tends to be, you know, more, just more moist than a lot of other people. A lot of other people deal with dry skin. I tend to have more moist skin. That's just me. Um, also this part of this dermis part of the skin also helps to produce sweat. You have the sweat glands in this dermis that release sweat through the skin and through the pores. Okay. Sweat also obviously helps you regulate your body temperature. Okay. So the more you sweat, what's that? That's your body kind of cooling your body down or bringing down your body temperature. That's just a normal reaction of your body. And then you have the dermis that also supplies the blood, okay. Blood vessels in the dermis provide nutrients to the epidermis, keeping the skin layers healthy. And then the final or the third layer of skin is the hypodermis. Okay. So this is the bottom layer of the skin. This tends to be more of a fatty layer of the skin. And the hypodermis is something that helps us cushion our muscles and our bones. Okay. So fat in the hypodermis helps to protect the muscles and bones from injuries when you fall or let's say you're in an accident or something like that. Right. Um, it also has connective tissue. This tissue connects layers of the skin to the muscles and the bones, and it also helps the nerves, uh, and the blood vessels. Okay. So nerves and blood vessels in the dermis middle layer get larger in the hypodermis. These nerves and blood vessels branch out to connect the hypodermis to the rest of the body. And then again, this also helps to regulate your body temperature because the fat in the hypodermis keeps you from getting too cold or hot again, regulating that body temperature with extreme temperatures, extreme cold, extreme hot. So those are the three layers of skin and that's basic skin anatomy. Again, the skin is a very important part of your immune system and it helps to protect you in a lot of ways. But at the same time, the skin, and this is what we're going to talk about now when we get into rosacea and skin problems, the skin also interacts as a very intimate relationship with the internal issues that are going on in the internal inflammation that comes outward. Okay. That's very important. And that's something you really want to, you know, really, you know, kind of keep in the back of your mind. So let's get started with that. And the first thing we're going to talk about is an article from Jillian Levy, and this is rosacea treatment, six natural ways to treat your skin. So we're going to dive into rosacea. Okay. So rosacea obviously is a common skin condition. It affects 0.5% to 10% of the population, leaving people searching for rosacea treatment options. It commonly develops during teenage years or someone's, you know, or in the twenties, and then it can actually get worse as people get older, especially into their thirties or forties. So now when it comes to flare-ups, there is acne or eczema, hives, or any conditions, there's typically a trigger. Okay. A lot of people, especially in a lot of the studies that they've talked about, they've said that there's typically a trigger that happens. Now there's a lot of different triggers, and this is what you have to really pay attention to. What are the triggers that can cause a flare-up and kind of do a backtrack to what that trigger was. Okay. But it is, it isn't always possible to solve rosacea. And you know, sometimes you, you have to just kind of do what you can to mitigate it and do what you can to, um, to lessen the flare-ups, right? So it really depends on how bad it is, what you're doing, what your lifestyle is, all these types of things. So the National Rosacea Society survey found that prior to diagnosis, 95% of rosacea patients knew little to nothing about its signs and symptoms. Here's an interesting thing. A lot of people with rosacea don't even experience any major symptoms, or they may think that their symptoms are just, oh, maybe a little skin rash that'll go away. A lot of people don't realize that it is part of the rosacea process that's developing. So let's take a look at some of the, um, some of the symptoms of rosacea and what are the most common ones. And I'll run through them, you know, to just kind of, you know, to get the general idea. So redness in the face, especially towards the center in the cheeks and the nose, spider veins, which are visible broken blood vessels, swelling and painful skin, stinging and burning in the skin, dry, rough, itchy, or scaly skin, easily bruising when embarrassed, acne-like breakouts and overly oily skin, large visible inflamed pores, raised patches of skin called plaques, bumpy texture to the skin, parts of the skin that thicken, especially common around the nose, but can also appear in the chin, foreheads, cheeks, and ears, and sensitivity of skin around the eyes, including watery or bloodshot appearances, redness or dryness. So again, there's a lot in there. So obviously, you know, it may not necessarily be that, but it's just things you want to keep in the back of your mind in terms of, could this be, you know, part of the rosacea process that's flaring up here. Now, rosacea can start as a small rash or a patch of bumps or redness before spreading and becoming more intense. The condition is not contagious. A lot of people think it is, it's not contagious. And oftentimes symptoms can come and go depending on how stressed or run down you feel. Now there's three different types of rosacea. Okay. So actually, no, sorry, there's four different types of rosacea. Sorry. I'm thinking of the skin. There's four different types of rosacea. So we have the subtype one, which is characterized by facial redness, flushing, visible blood vessels, the most, which is the most common. Okay. So again, facial redness, flushing, and visible blood vessels. That's the most common type. Subtype two is characterized by acne like breakouts and sensitivity, okay. Along with persistent redness, bumps, and maybe even pimples that can be very frequent. Then we have the subtype three, which is characterized by swelling, fluid retention, which is edema, thickening skin, you know, and again, around the nose and redness and various symptoms from other subtypes and then subtype four, which is characterized by rosacea around the eyes. Okay. So those are the four basic types of rosacea. Again, you know, these are things you have to kind of look at, obviously, you know, if you're with your doctor, you work with your doctor, if there are flare ups and different types of things and you, or you are seeing these things, obviously you want to get it checked out first to make sure it's not something more serious. Now, again, not every person with rosacea has noticeable signs and symptoms, but you have to kind of be a little bit of a detective. Okay. Now in the case of rosacea around your eyes, this is where you really want to maybe go see an eye specialist or, you know, an ophthalmologist or something like that, because if it gets really bad, it can actually start to affect your vision and you don't want to leave that, you know, obviously you don't want to affect your vision in any way. So obviously in that, in that scenario, you definitely want to talk to an eye specialist on that to make sure it doesn't get any worse. Now, let's look at some of the ways that rosacea is commonly treated by dermatologists. It includes changing your diet to remove any allergies, sensitivities, or common gut irritants. That's, that's a good thing. A lot of them use prescriptions, medicines, either topically on the skin or taking prescriptions or even antibiotics. A lot of them prescribe antibiotics for that as well. Being careful to wear sunscreen, which helps to prevent irritation from UV light and redness and flare-ups. Again, now I, you know, just as an aside, I did a whole podcast on sunscreens. And so if you're, you know, if you're a person that's not sure about the sunscreens, you know, or toxicity of sunscreens, because many of them can be toxic, you know, do a search on the, on the website about sunscreens. I did a whole show or I did a whole segment on the previous podcast on the toxicity of sunscreens and which ones are the best to use and which ones are not. So keep that in mind. But also other things that, that they treat, receiving skin treatments from your doctor, including different types of dermabrasion, emollients, laser therapy, and other forms of light therapy, and then taking eye medications or drops when rosacea spreads to the eyelids, which is what we were just talking about previously. Now what are some of the causes of rosacea? Now, this is where we're going to get into specifics. And again, you know, some of these could be the flare-ups that happen, you know, it could be the cause initially, and then something else could be triggering the flare-ups. So there's a lot of different ways you can look at it. Now, you know, medical experts still don't know exactly the series of reactions that cause rosacea to develop in the first place. Okay. So again, this is where becoming a detective you know, really has to kind of come into your life because you have to really kind of take a diary of what you did before, what you took, what you ate, what you, you know, all these types of things. And you have to kind of write those down and see if any of the things could be causing a flare-up. Okay. Now there was a 2009 analysis done by the Dermatology Outpatients Clinic. And this was in Krakow, and they found that among 43 women and 26 men with rosacea, factors that most triggered rosacea skin changes were the 58% was stress. Think about it, that's the top 58%. Then the next down is 56% sun exposure. Then we have alcohol, 33% exercise, 29% drinking coffee, 21% and hot meals, 20.3%. So stress was number one on this, which makes sense. And we'll get into that. Now there was some separate studies as well that they did again from the National Rosacea Society and the most common rosacea triggers included sun exposure at 81%. Emotional stress is 79%. Other triggers were hot weather, which was 75%, wind, 57%, heavy exercise, 56%, alcohol consumption, 52%, hot bath, 51%, cold weather, 46%, humidity, 44%, and certain skincare products, 41%. So just some statistics to keep in the back of your mind. So now let's go into some of the natural rosacea treatment options, the triggers and the rosacea treatment options that we want to take a look at. Okay. So number one, you want to identify any triggers in your diet. Okay. And this is the big one. This is the big one. Okay. Identifies any triggers in your diet. And why is this important? Because and this is where I'm going to now piggyback on another article. Okay. This is from, again, this is from wellness resources. And this is this, if I can pull it up here, this is rosacea, rosacea linked with gut nerve and immune system dysfunction. Okay. Now this article is, is, you know, a few years old, but again, the information is relevant. Okay. Because the information really hasn't changed much since then. So let's dive into exactly what this says. Okay. So this says that changes in the, uh, changes in the innate immune system, germ overgrowth in the gut, dysfunctional nerve vascular signaling within the skin and overgrowth and dysbiosis of the germs on the skin have been linked to rosacea gut disorders linked with rosacea as well. So small intestinal bacteria overgrowth or SIBO, okay, for short helicobacter pylori or H. pylori infection, which is by the way, common in common in many intestinal infections. Okay. That's a big one. Okay. Also other gastrointestinal disorders are prevalent in rosacea patients and are suspected in the pathogenesis of rosacea. There was a 2015 study found that bacterial overgrowth of H. pylori was significantly higher in patients with rosacea than healthy controls. And in 2017, there was a meta analysis study found that some benefit of H. pylori treatment in rosacea patients, but failed, okay, there was some benefit, but failed to fully understand substantially, uh, to, to explain, to substantially explain the pathology, which means that there was, there was more to the story. There was a large population study published in January, 2017, the British journal of dermatology found a high prevalence of gastrointestinal disorders like celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, H. pylori and SIBO, intestinal bacterial overgrowth and IBS present in patients with rosacea. And the growing consensus has been that a change in gut health appears to be connected with rosacea. Also nerve and vascular inflammation and lymph congestion. That also was a part of it. So let's go back to the gut for a second. So remember how we talked about stress, right? We talked about stress being one of the big factors with people that, that said that they had rosacea flare ups. Well, we know that stress and the nervous system, obviously stress affects the nervous system and nervous system affects the gut. So we know that the gut is intimately involved in that, right? So what happens to stress can cause all types of gut issues. The gut issues can in turn eventually lead to imbalances in gut problems, right? Leaky guts, SIBO, all these types of things, which eventually can make its way out through the skin causing flare ups. So we see at the end of the day that gut is probably, in my opinion, the number one issue when it comes to these types of skin flare ups. And again, you could talk about rosacea, but we can look at this in acne. We can look at this in eczema, we can look at this in dermatitis and all these types of things. Gut is probably the biggest issue in that. So obviously dealing with stress, dealing with gut issues, dealing with your diet is going to be, you know, priority number one in making sure that you have less chance of a flare up in rosacea. Now let's take a look at, let's go back to nerve vascular inflammation and lymph congestion as well from the same article. Redness and flushing skin changes in rosacea relate to neurogenic inflammation. The epidermis, which we talked about, or the outer layer of the skin interacts with numerous sensory nerve endings and are surrounded by little capillaries. These nerve cells respond due to several different chemicals released by mast cells, which we talk about mast cells all the time, especially in the allergic response, right? So the mast cells and other immune inflammatory compounds like the metalloproteases, we call them the MMP2 and the MMP9, which are the matrix metalloprotease, these compounds, right? These are these types of compounds, these immune inflammatory compounds. These nerves sends signals to capillaries in the face, which causes them to dilate. Now lymph vessels in the face also dilate and become congested, okay? And this is the problem. When lymph starts to get congested, this is where the body starts to push. This is when the body, the body's instinct is to make a push to get things out. And if it cannot get things out in the traditional way, it's going to push things out. And as a result, you get skin tissue that becomes inflamed and rosacea develops, right? And this is from a neurochemical signal, which is neurogenic inflammation, okay? So you have to understand the inflammation is the body's way of trying to deal with it. And it's trying to push things out. And again, if we, if you know anything about the human body, it's going to find a way to push things out. And if it can't push things out one way, it's going to push things out another way, right? That's just kind of how the body works. Again, the body's instinct is survival and getting the foreign substances out or dealing with the inflammation. That's the body's way of dealing with it, okay? Pushing it out through the skin and getting that, you know, trying to get that cleared up. So it is a big deal and it's something we really want to take a look at. So again, gut is key here. You've got to take a look at the gut and you know, what you're dealing with. So what do we want to do in terms of that? Obviously we want to take a look at eating good, right? So changing your diet, overhauling your diet, making sure that you're not eating all the sugars, making sure you're bringing down the sugar because the sugars is one of the big issues in terms of gut health, right? And causing inflammation in the gut, right? So we want to look at organic fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, high quality proteins, all the stuff that we talk about, anti-inflammatory foods and herbs, everything you can to eat that's anti-inflammatory, the anti-inflammatory diet, right? The turmeric, the ginger, the garlic, the onions, the cruciferous vegetables, the tomatoes, the green tea, all these types of things that can help combat inflammation, okay? And then you want to avoid the food triggers. You want to avoid things that cause allergies, anything that causes food allergies. If you have any kind of food allergies, obviously you want to, you know, get that out. Other things like too much caffeine, too much alcohol, okay? Again, caffeine can be a trigger for these things. So if you drink a lot of coffee, you want to lessen that. If you find that two, three cups of coffee are causing a trigger, you want to bring that down, okay? You know, so that's, you know, that's a big thing. Processed foods, obviously processed foods are known to irritate the gut lining and aggravate skin disorders or, you know, yeah, basically aggravate the skin. Other things, okay, are, do you have issues with dairy products? Are you allergic to dairy, obviously, right? Things like yogurt, cheese, milk, ice cream, all these types of things can be triggers. They can cause inflammation, they can cause a lot of phlegm. So again, they can cause a buildup of all this type of stuff. Uh, fried foods, trans fats, hydrogenated oil, you know, hydrogenated oils, all this type. So, so again, anything anti-inflammatory you can do on the diet side, obviously you want to do that. Okay. Then we want to do whatever we can to fix the gut as much as possible. So we want to get the good food in. We want to get the, um, the fiber, the high quality fiber. You want to get that in. Of course, you get that from your vegetables, you get that from your fibers, your, um, you get that if you, if you buy fiber, you get flax seed or chia seed, right? If you buy fiber from the store and put it in your cereal or put it in your smoothies, getting good fiber foods, that's always going to help things move, move things along. Okay. Then we want to take a look at the probiotics and those types of, we'll talk a little bit about that later, but anything you can to fix the gut is going to help, right now. How much is it going to help? It depends how much, how much are you doing, right? So, you know, um, those types of things diet is number one, the first thing you got to look at in this whole piece, number two, sunscreen. Okay. So again, like I said, I did a whole segment on sunscreen, so make sure you take a look at that, but obviously UV light or intense UV light can aggravate some skin conditions. This is why people with lupus are told a lot of times not to go out in the sun or for too long because it can be aggravating, right? The UV rays can aggravate any kind of skin conditions. You can be susceptible to that. So, you know, you want to do what you can to, you know, put on the good sunscreen. If you're going to be out for long periods of time or just, you know, put some covering on and try not to get as much UV light, if again, you are sensitive to that. Number three, use natural moisturizers and cosmetic products. Okay. So, um, when they looked at, uh, again, uh, studies and stuff like that, and when patients regularly cleaned and moisturized dry, rough, patchy skin, they found that noticeable noticeable symptoms, discomfort, and overall sensitivity of skin improved, but good to know. Okay. So non-chemical non, you know, and naturally antibacterial skin moisturizers like coconut oil are great. They can provide the essential acids for the skin, okay. Without causing the breakouts and further irritating the skin itself, because you know, there are some chemical things out there that can actually make things worse. So obviously you don't want to use any of those. You want to use something that can, you know, be, be good for the skin and not cause any further flare ups. rich in natural oils, including coconuts, uh, aloe and other things that are used to make essential oils. So any of those essential oils that are really good for the skin, check those out. They may be very good. Number four, manage stress levels. This is another big one, right? And this kind of goes along where back to the guts and back to, you know, keeping your gut in check. So similar to acne breakouts, stress is known to be a common trigger of rosacea and can obviously bring flare ups. So try your best to control the stress in your life, basically for two reasons. First, because stress makes autoimmune reactions and inflammation even worse. And secondly, because you're likely already under enough added stress when dealing with rosacea flare ups to begin with. Right? So if you're dealing with rosacea on a regular basis, that's a stress factor, right? You don't want to add to that with other types of stress if, if you don't have to, so again, do everything you can to manage your stress, whether it's meditation, whether it's exercise, whether it's going for a walk, whether it's taking some nutrients that calm you down, whatever you can do on the natural side to manage your stress, do that. Okay. You know, we all have to, I've had to do that and I still continue to have to do that. Okay. Things can get very anxious. Especially when you have a kid in college. So you know, that's a big one. Manage your stress. And again, stress and the gut go together. So if you start to manage your stress, you will probably see some, uh, you most likely you will see some improvement in the gut area, which eventually can lead to improvements in overall health. Number five, talk to your doctor about medication options. Okay. So now obviously, again, if you want to see your doctor about these things, talk to them. Recently, the medical community has gained some valuable insights into the pathophysiology of rosacea and has may, uh, has been able to develop several effective rosacea treatments for controlling symptoms. However, even though they can be helpful, it is important to realize that these don't cure rosacea and are only used to control the symptoms. Again, they do not cure rosacea. They are there to manage the symptoms. Now, what do we talk about on the show all the time? We talk about getting to the crux of the problem. We talk about getting to the cause of the problem. That's what we want to try to do as much as possible. This is where you come in and this is where you have to kind of keep a diary of, again, what is your flare up? What it is that you're dealing with? What did you eat? What stress were you under? What supplements were you taking? What medications you were taking? Who got you upset? What mold or what elements are you dealing with? Were you outside for a long period of time? You know, kind of keep a diary of all this stuff because you'll start to notice some things that kind of stand out, especially every time you have a flare up, Oh, wait a minute, this thing, this is what keeps happening. This is what may be causing the issue. So again, this is where you have to put your detective hat on and you have to really kind of, you know, look into that. So, you know, that's a big one. But again, you, you know, so again, discuss with your doctor, obviously if you, you know, he may recommend some stuff, but even if he does recommend some creams or whatever types of treatments on their end, his or her end, um, you can do things on your end as well. So again, as I always say, if you're working with your doctor, meet them halfway, work together. That's a big, big key here. Okay. So the, and, and this is the last one, which is number six, try supplements and essential oils that can help rosacea. So again, this is where we get into the supplement piece and natural stuff. Again, many of the plant extracts, spices, and herbs that, you know, do more than just lower the, uh, red inflamed breakouts or just treat the symptoms. They can also be effective at fighting bacterial growth, yeast, fungus, and signs of aging, wrink, uh, wrinkles, stretch marks, and all these types of things. So what are those, what are those things we want to take a look at? We want to take a look at turmeric, ginger, aloe vera, especially the gel, the aloe vera gel is key in this one. Okay. You have to get gel, not the, um, not, not the, you know, just a regular liquid that you would drink. You want to get the topical gel aloe vera as pure as possible. You don't want any, you know, any chemicals in it. So you want pure aloe vera. Okay. And the gel specifically, um, also raw honey. Okay. So aloe vera gel used topically raw honey, and it has to be raw, raw honey used topically on the skin. Why we know that, uh, honey is antibacterial, right? So very, very good for that type of stuff. And then essential oils, you want to take a look at essential oils, tea tree oil, lavender oils, eucalyptus, um, chamomile, rose, um, rosemary, thyme, essential oils, all these types of things have been found to be beneficial to fight skin inflammation and to help treat sensitive skin. Okay. Now in this article here, it says to treat the area, simply rub three drops of oil three times daily mixed with a half of teas, a half a teaspoon of coconut oil. Always combine these with a carrier oil. Okay. Including coconut or jojoba oil and apply to the affected area. No, uh, area, no more than twice daily perform a skin patch test first, and then start gradually to test the results, making sure you don't experience any allergic reaction. So again, this is all a test. So check this out. But again, you don't want to experience, you don't want to make things worse. You don't want to get any kind of allergic reactions when using any of this stuff. You don't want to, you want to make sure that you're not allergic to any of the oils, right? So obviously you want to do some testing first on it to see if there's any kind of reaction. If there's not, then you keep trying and you keep doing it. Now the thing with these types of things, and this is what people have to understand regarding the natural stuff versus the chemical based stuff. This is what people don't get. People have this misconception that if I don't, if I use the natural stuff for a week and I don't see a difference, then it doesn't work. Well, that doesn't work that way. That's not the way it works. The reason why the chemical stuff works and the difference between the two, right? And this could be for topical creams or it could be for any type of medication you're taking in. The reason why the chemicals work so well when you're taking in from a doctor of medication, all that is because it's a chemical, right? It's a foreign substance. It's a, it's a foreign substance that your body takes in and it makes your body do something or not do something, right? It forces your metabolism to do something or not do something. It forces your metabolism to stop something, right? To stop producing something, to stop producing inflammation, to clamp down on the immune system, to stop mast cells, to whatever it is. Okay. It's a chemical designed to force your body to do that. That just is what it is. Now the, the, the side effect of that is a side effect, right? So yes, it can work to stop the issue, but then there can be a side effect to that that could come out somewhere else because again, it is a foreign substance versus the natural side of things, right? What is the natural side of things? The natural, when you take in the tumerics, the gingers and all these types of things, well, these are things that have been used for centuries and these are things that have been on the planet for centuries and that people have been using as healing modalities for centuries. These are things that the body, um, recognizes, okay, put it that way. Okay. And again, because it's part of nature and you are part of nature. So when you use these things, yes, it's not designed to manage what you're doing. It's not designed to force your body to do something. No, it's designed to work with your body to get kind of under the skin, so to speak, or into the, not the actual cause of what the issue is and to draw it out and to clean out your body, to clean out the toxins, to get your, you know, your body back into homeostasis. But it can take much longer. This can take weeks. This, this can take months. You've got to be in it for the long haul if you're going to deal with it. And again, it could be anything, but we're talking about skin right now, right? But it could be anything. You have to be in it for the long haul. That is the key when you're dealing with natural stuff versus chemical stuff. Now, again, you guys can do whatever you want, right? Obviously, if you want fast relief, yeah, you deal with the chemicals, the prescriptions and those types of things that your doctor or whatever gives you, okay? Because you're stopping it right at that point. But again, just keep in mind that you're not getting to the root cause. So you want to get to the root cause at the end of the day, right? That is the key. So again, we look at these natural, you know, natural things and we see if they can work or not, but take a look at that. And again, you, you know, you do a trial and error. You have to do a trial and error. Skin issues are pretty difficult because again, a lot of it is coming from inside. So my suggestion when you're looking at, again, we talked about gut health, right? We talked about the six things. Now on the supplement side, again, many great supplements that are great for the gut. You got your probiotics, you've got your prebiotics, right, your fibers, okay? You want to take a look at that. If you are having gut issues and this is a telltale sign, if you have skin issues, check out your gut. If you feel bloating or any kind of issues, you know, they're pretty much related. So you got to get in, you got to get internal. So your probiotics, your prebiotics, your fiber, you got to lower the sugar, you got to get the good food in, you got to overhaul your diet, okay? And get the probiotics in, okay? Then you want to take a look at anti-inflammatories. Again, the tumerics, the gingers, the aloe veras, the raw honeys, all these types of things are great as far as anti-inflammatories, whether you're taking them in or whether you're doing it topically, okay? If you want to take a look at some great skin products or not skin products, but skin supplements, again, you can take a look at Wellness Resources Supplements. They have, by the way, 25% off, let me plug, 25% off on their supplements, but great supplements for the skin, hair, skin, and nail supplements. They've got some great stuff, some great probiotics that'll help you, some great fiber supplements, all these types of things you got to take in to make sure. But again, stress and gut, I would say is one and two. Stress and gut, one and two right there when you're dealing with the skin. And then again, the triggers like the coffees and the alcohols and all those types of things, okay? So those are the main pieces. Again, this can be for acne, this can be for eczema, this can be for dermatitis, this can be for whatever skin issues, because again, it's all inflammation. At the end of the day, any issue, any problems like that is at its core inflammation, okay? So keep these things in mind in terms of the skin, dry, patchy skin, obviously you may be dealing with that in the wintertime. So if you are prone to that, then start early, start making sure you're moisturizing and doing everything you can to moisturize your skin and to get your skin really in good shape. There's an old saying, I don't know who actually said it, but someone said you can tell what's going on inside by how somebody looks outside, and it's really, really true. You really look at somebody on the outside and what kind of skin issues or wrinkles or whatever it is, or if they're prematurely aging on the outside, that tells you there's a lot of stuff going on on the inside. So again, we want to go from the inside out and then also from the outside as well. If you take that two-prong approach, then you'll be more likely to not have to deal with flare-ups and skin issues at the end of the day, okay? So hopefully this helps you, hopefully you got a lot out of this. Again, this is not every single thing, but I think this will give you a good starting point if you are dealing with skin issues, okay? So that's it for this edition of the Wellness Talk Podcast. As always, it's an honor. It's always a pleasure bringing you this information, and I hope you get a lot out of this. I hope this really helps you because I'm trying to do everything I can to help you guys and give you all different types of sides to this and just some things you can do on your own. Taking control, that's the end of the day, okay? That's what you need to do. So thank you so much for joining me this week. Make sure you take care of yourselves, and make sure you take care of each other, and as always, control your health. Have a great day.