how long does a rosacea flare up last

Rosacea is a common skin condition that flares up from certain triggers or at random times. It causes sensitive skin, with flareups causing your skin to redden, swell, or grow small pimples. Fortunately, the flareups won’t last long as long as it’s taken care of properly.

But how long does a Rosacea flareup last, exactly? It depends on various factors! Read on to find out how long flareups would last and what you can do about it.

How Long Does a Rosacea Flare-Up Last?

Rosacea is, unfortunately, still an incurable auto-inflammatory skin condition. With that said, it is not a fatal condition and can be managed with the right treatments.

The skin condition does not show symptoms all the time but will come up now and then due to certain triggers. These are called flare-ups, which can be as simple as some skin flushing or redness. However, the symptoms can become intense and cause pimples and swelling.

Rosacea vector illustration

There are three phases of rosacea flare-ups:

  • Pre-rosacea when skin flushing occurs, then small visible blood vessels appear, causing skin redness
  • Vascular rosacea is the stage when the symptoms worsen and your skin becomes extremely sensitive. Inflammation occurs on the cheeks and nose
  • Inflammation is the last stage before the flare-up heals, which involves red blisters and/or bumps on your cheek, nose, chin, and/or forehead

Again, these flare-ups are temporary and will disappear until the next flare-up comes along.

Usually, flare-ups would last anywhere between a day up to one month. The average duration is about one week, though it can disappear within hours if treated immediately.

Unfortunately, when the flare-up finishes, the skin might fail to return to normal, or it can reappear again shortly. Rosacea won’t resolve on its own and will require treatment to reduce the severity of the symptoms.

If left untreated, the flare-ups and symptoms will worsen until your skin will become permanently flushed with enlarged blood vessels and pimples showing.

Learn more about the length of rosacea flare-ups and why it happens in this informative video:

Lessen the Severity of Rosacea Flare-Ups

There is no known cure for rosacea yet, but there are ways to lessen the severity of flare-ups and its duration. To help prevent further flare-ups, you can follow these quick tips:

  • Know your triggers to help receive better treatment, reduce the flares, and prevent it from worsening. The usual triggers are stress, sunlight and heal, spicy foods and alcohol, as well as certain skin and hair care products or medicine. Remember and list down your actions before the flare-up to see if they may have been the trigger
  • Make proper lifestyle changes according to your triggers. You may need to start a new diet with anti-inflammatory foods and less spicy dishes, as well as to stop vices like smoking and alcohol.
  • Protect your skin and wear sunscreen and cover-ups when going out, even during cloudy days. Use skin care products made for sensitive skin and create a healthy skincare routine
  • Avoid using makeup and hair products altogether, or if you must, look for ones that have safe ingredients and avoid spraying around your face
  • Some medications can help relieve symptoms such as redness or swelling. You can either use a topical cream or oral antibiotics and acne drugs to shorten the flare-up duration
  • For more severe cases, there are laser therapies that reduce the redness of your enlarged blood vessels
  • There are some alternative medicines you may try such as certain essential oils or facial massages. However, it’s best to follow the doctor’s advice to prevent it from worsening

These can help lessen the number of flare-ups and shorten the duration to hours or days, rather than suffer from weeks.

Read more: How to Get Rid of Rosacea: The Different Treatments to Try Out

Wrapping It Up

Rosacea flare-ups can be irritating but fortunately, they don’t last forever. You can lessen the flare-ups and shorten them with proper safety precautions and avoid triggers. With proper knowledge, you won’t need to suffer from the symptoms for days or weeks at a time.

I hope that my article answered your question, “how long does a rosacea flare-up last? Now that you know the answer, start looking into what you can do to avoid certain triggers and flare-ups again.