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Why is my Face Red?

Here are some reasons your skin could be red and some tricks for acne-prone skin

It’s essential to spot the difference between redness caused by acne (red spots and bumps) and other types of irritation to confirm you are using the correct skin care treatment.


Non-Acne-Related Reasons for Redness

There are other causes that can result in redness on the face in addition to acne. Although acne is the most common, we have listed a few different causes of redness and irritation first and touch upon acne later in this article.


Eczema

This skin condition can appear in clusters or patches on lighter skin tones. While on deeper skin tones it may appear as violet to grey or dark brown and is often combined with a bumpy texture. Eczema can be triggered by a completely different set of factors than acne-related redness. In all skin types, the main symptom of eczema is itchiness. It is very important to seek professional advice from a dermatologist for a diagnosis if you think you may have this skin condition.


Rosacea

Rosacea-related redness will typically appear as the skin flushing or blushing and is most noticeable in fairer to medium skin tones. Deeper tones will notice patchy darkening skin that can be paired with a persistent warm, sensitized feeling. Again, with this skin condition, we highly recommend seeing a professional for a diagnosis and treatment.


Allergic Reactions

On lighter skin tones, allergic reactions may appear as red bumps, similar to those you see with acne. Deeper skin types might see more of a localized discoloration in addition to a bumpy texture and itchiness. On occasion reactions will happen suddenly after exposure while other times it may take an extended amount of time to show up.


Causes of allergic reactions vary from individual to individual. In addition to internal allergies, you can develop a reaction from certain skin care products and their ingredients. Fragrance is usually a common trigger. Whenever using a new product for the first time we recommend doing a patch test and waiting anywhere from 1-24 hours before using it depending on the product. We also recommend adding new products in one at a time, please don’t apply your entire skincare shopping haul to your face in one day.



Acne

Red spots that are acne-related stem from active breakouts in addition to post-blemish marks. The colour can appear pinkish to reddish on paler skin tones but tend to typically appear tan or darker brown on deeper skin tones. In both cases the redness and/or other discolouration that becomes visible results from the skin’s response to the inflammation that is caused by acne.


What’s the Cause of Acne?

Acne can have many causes but one of the basic principles is there is an excess of sebum or oil that is naturally produced by the body, that builds up on the skin and mixes with dead skin cells and debris forming a glue that ultimately clogs pores. Congestion within the pores creates an ideal habitat for acne-triggering bacteria to bloom which in turn results in the breakouts you see on the outside.


There are however other factors that can be at play to cause acne-prone skin to worsen. Some examples of these factors are using products that are not created for your skin type or contain ingredients that can irritate your skin, not cleansing the skin properly (people that fall asleep with their makeup on, we’re looking at you), hormones, stress, and even certain diet sensitivities.



How to reduce Acne related redness on the face

When your face becomes red and irritated from acne all you want to do is stay home until it goes away. We’ve been there, and we understand how much it sucks. So below we’ve compiled a list of a few “quick hacks” to guide you through calming down and soothing the skin so you can leave the house with confidence.

1) Use Soothing Ingredients to Calm the Skin

Irritation is the cause of your pimples being red so logically anything you can do to soothe the skin will help to reduce the redness immensely.

The best way (or at least our favourite way) to do this is nothing you haven’t heard before. Use a spot treatment that contains the active ingredient salicylic acid which has been shown in research to contain soothing, anti-inflammatory, and anti-redness properties. This in turn will help your pimples go down. Here’s the twist though, as a follow up we recommend using a formula that has extracts like oat, willow herb, and licorice as these are skin-calming ingredients. With this combination, you should receive some instant relief from the redness.

2) Apply some Visine, yes you heard us right

Now, this tip is a fast and furious type of solution. Take Visine, or any type of “redness-relieving” eye drops, saturate a face pad or swab with the solution, and then hold it against the affected area for about 30 seconds. The reason this works the way it does is that these eye drop solutions contain ingredients that help to constrict blood vessels. It’s certainly a temporary solution that is worth a try, especially if you already have some on hand (which we recommend for those mornings after a crazy late night out anyways) It’s a multiuse kind of product.

3) A Dermatologist given Cortisone Shot

Got a big event coming up and you have the reddest pimple, right in the middle of your face? You can get an intralesional cortisone shot which is a diluted steroid to help vanish a pimple within 24-48 hours. This tip is a little bit harder to come by but it's a good one to keep in your back pocket for those once-in-a-lifetime big events. In addition, keep your products irritant and fragrance-free to not worsen the redness.

4) Colour, Correct, and Conceal

If none of the above are helping then to cover it we recommend using a well-formulated green colour corrector to neutralize the redness. You will need to add a medium to full coverage concealer or foundation over top to completely cover the red pimple as if it was never there, to begin with.


We hope this article helped, even if it was just a little. Do you have consistent redness or maybe occasional redness? We want to know if you have any extra tips and tricks for us to know.


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