Beauty news: Rosacea awareness with actress Cynthia Nixon

Recently, I had a chance to chat with theatre and movie actor Cynthia Nixon about rosacea.

Nixon (perhaps best known for her character Miranda Hobbes in the Sex and the City TV show and movies) is the spokesperson for Act on Red. It’s a global campaign from dermatology company Galderma, providing information and educational resources on facial redness associated with rosacea.

Often appearing as redness and flushing and sometimes including pimples, rosacea affects approximately two million Canadians, typically women with fair skin between the ages of 30 and 60 according to the Canadian Skin Patient Alliance.

Nixon told me in a telephone interview that she actually had rosacea for several years before it was identified by her dermatologist when she was visiting for an unrelated matter that she assumed was acne-related. "I was using anti-bacterial products and peels and rigorous stuff to really clean my skin." When she learned that her condition was rosacea, "I threw them out," she says. Now, she says, she mainly depends on a simple soothing oil skin care regimen.

According to an article published in Best Health magazine, the cause of rosacea is not known but doctors are increasingly seeing it as an inflammatory reaction by the immune system.

Nixon said she learned that triggers can include red wine, spicy food, hot baths, extremes in weather’cold winters or very hot weather’and stress. Her advice to anyone struggling with rosacea is to consult their doctor or dermatologist. And check out Act on Red at actonred.ca.