To continue this month’s look at how stress can affect your skin, it’s time to think more about if stress might be worsening symptoms for those suffering from more serious skin conditions, like psoriasis and rosacea. Spoiler alert: It probably is.

Researchers think that two things must occur for a person to develop psoriasis:

1. The individual must already have a combination of genes that cause psoriasis.

2. The individual be exposed to certain external factors that “trigger” the condition.

One of those triggers is stress. Stress can cause a person to see symptoms of psoriasis for the first time or it can intensify existing psoriasis. Many people say their psoriasis began after they experienced a stressful event. Other factors include injury to skin, medications, and infection.

It goes pretty much the same way for rosacea, but other possible causes include a bug in the intestines or larger numbers of a mite that already lives on most adults’ skin—demodex. Another fun fact: Although women are more likely to get rosacea than men, women aren’t as likely to get severe rosacea. And it’s something that anyone can get—all races, all ages.

Many of those suffering from atopic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema (when people say “eczema,” they most often mean atopic dermatitis, or “AD” for short), have noticed a connection between stressful events in their lives and their AD flare-ups. The anger and frustration that comes from stress can cause flushing and itching. Scratching can spread and prolong dermatitis. People with AD can reduce flare-ups by avoiding stress triggers and controlling their scratching.

Stress can also trigger a flare-up of seborrheic dermatitis, a common skin disease that causes a rash, which can look like psoriasis, eczema or a skin allergy.

For all of these conditions, a weaker immune system is also thought to play a role. And it has been proven that stress can weaken the immune system.

So, the bottom line? Reduce the stress, reduce the problems.

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Let’s face it—chronic skin conditions like these can do a lot of damage. When this happens, the skin needs the proper repair.  We suggest an antioxidant serum to repair the skin and protect it from future damage. Use it to decrease inflammation and redness caused by rosacea or to soothe and moisturize acne-prone skin.