A routine for skin with redness: no retinoids or acids, and when it may be rosacea

On skin with redness the routine is built by taking things away: no retinoid, no exfoliating acid, no exfoliation to begin with. What is left is a gentle cleanser, a moisturiser formulated for reddened skin — with niacinamide or with soothing actives — and a sunscreen. This page is the routine our tool builds for that profile, with the shop’s products in two budgets.

And one boundary that has to be stated before the routine: if the redness is persistent, with papules, with stinging or with visible vessels, it may be rosacea. Rosacea is a disease, it is diagnosed in the consulting room, and a cream does not treat it.

This page is one of the eight outputs of the skincare routine tool, which builds it from your answers in your browser. It sits inside the dermocosmetics guide, where the legal framework of what a cream can do is set out, and the general rule of order — lightest to densest, sunscreen last — is in what order to apply your skincare.

How this routine was built

The routine on this page was not written by a copywriter: it was calculated by the same engine the skincare routine tool uses, and it has been reviewed product by product by the two plastic surgeons who sign it. It works in four layers, in order of authority:

1. What the signatories set for each product — for which skin, in which range, at which step — with their wording on record.
2. The safety rules, read off the ingredients list (INCI), never off the advertising: whether a product contains a retinoid or an exfoliating acid is decided by its composition.
3. Each manufacturer’s official literature — the AllSkin Med brochure, the ZO Skin Health portfolio, the SkinCeuticals and mesoestetic data sheets — which sets the skin type, the timing and the method of use, and the current scientific evidence: published trials and reviews that say what each active really does, how long it takes to show and who it was measured in. When a product’s advertising and the literature disagree, the literature governs.
4. A heuristic that only makes a suggestion where none of the above applies, and it is shown as a suggestion.

The two ranges are set by price within each step, mixing brands: a €52 cleanser is expensive and a €52 serum is cheap. Neither range is made to look cheaper by leaving a step empty: if a product is missing for your skin, one is taken from the other range and we say so.

The routine step by step: mid range and high end

For combination skin with redness as the priority, not pregnant, no surgery planned and for someone starting out with actives. Each product links to its page in the shop.

The essentials — cleansing, moisturising and sun protection, plus the treatment if your priority calls for it — come to €173 in the mid range and €280 in the high end; with every optional item, €391 and €812. The optional ones genuinely are: the routine works without them.

The engine’s notes on this routine:

• First cleanse, high end: The first step of the double cleanse (at night): it removes SPF and make-up; then the cleanser.
• Antioxidant, mid range: It goes on before the moisturiser.
• Antioxidant, high end: Your moisturiser already contains antioxidants: this vitamin C is not essential, especially on oily skin. It goes on before the moisturiser.
• Treatment, mid range: There is no treatment specific to redness for your skin in your range: this is the one that fits your skin.
• Treatment, high end: There is no treatment specific to redness for your skin in your range: this is the one that fits your skin. A good anti-ageing option to round the routine off by adding peptides.
• Sun protection, mid range: If you want it to even out your tone, Mineral Colour SPF50+ Beige (€48) gives coverage and more protection against visible light. There are two shades: Beige for a light skin tone and Bronze for darker skin.
• Sun protection, high end: If you want it to even out your tone, Smart Tone SPF 50 (€79) gives coverage and more protection against visible light.

What the tool flags for this profile:

• Skin with redness: no exfoliants or retinoids to begin with. If the redness is persistent, with papules or stinging, it may be rosacea: that is diagnosed and treated in the consulting room.

According to your skin type

The priority sets the treatment; the skin type changes the base. This is how the mid range works out for each skin:

Each skin type also has its own routine page, with both ranges in full: dry, combination, oily and sensitive skin. And if your priority is a different one: wrinkles and texture, pigmentation and spots and pores.

What you do not need (and why)

• An exfoliant. None. Redness is inflammation, and exfoliating inflames.
• A “mild” retinol. In this tool, with redness, none goes in.
• Trying hot, cold or home remedies. What reddens the skin is vasodilation; extremes of temperature set it off.

When the routine is not enough

Redness from an irritated barrier improves within weeks by removing actives and repairing. Rosacea redness does not: it comes and goes with triggers, leaves visible vessels and can produce papules. That is diagnosed in the consulting room, and the treatment — prescription topical, pulsed light, measures on the triggers — is medical. Pulsed light for redness and vessels is in IPL for redness and rosacea.

The next step in the clinic for this priority, which the tool also names: IPL pulsed light package · 3 sessions. It is prescribed in the consulting room, with the skin in front of us.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know whether it is redness or rosacea?

By how persistent it is and by what goes with it. Redness after a product, which itches and settles within days, is irritation. Redness that comes and goes with heat, alcohol or stress, with visible vessels or small spots, and which lasts months, needs looking at: it may be rosacea, and that is diagnosed in the consulting room.

Can I use retinol if I have redness?

In this tool, no: with redness no active retinoid is proposed. It is the signatories’ decision, and the exception there used to be disappeared when we stopped selling that brand.

And acids?

No to those too. Neither glycolic nor salicylic nor grainy scrubs: redness is inflammation and exfoliating feeds it.

Which moisturiser suits me?

One formulated for reddened skin. The catalogue has two the signatories have confirmed for that, one in each range, and the tool prioritises them. If your skin is also sensitive, niacinamide helps.

Tinted or untinted sunscreen?

The mineral one is the best tolerated. If you want to even out your tone — redness gets disguised — the tinted version; the tool always offers you the pair and tells you what changes.

When should I come in?

If the redness persists more than two or three weeks on the base routine, if papules or stinging appear, or if you can see vessels. And if you are unsure: the tool ends by leaving the door open to the medical team.

Sources

• Misery L, Ständer S, Szepietowski JC, et al. Definition of Sensitive Skin: An Expert Position Paper from the Special Interest Group on Sensitive Skin of the International Forum for the Study of Itch. Acta Dermato-Venereologica, 2017;97(1):4-6. PMID 26939643. — Sensitive skin is defined as a syndrome: unpleasant sensations (stinging, burning, pain, itching, tingling) in response to stimuli that do not normally provoke them. It is neither a skin type nor a diagnosis: it is a picture that can accompany any skin, and that is why it is asked about separately here.
• Bissett DL, Oblong JE, Berge CA. Niacinamide: A B vitamin that improves aging facial skin appearance. Dermatologic Surgery, 2005;31(7 Pt 2):860-865. PMID 16029679. — Half-face trials with 5% niacinamide for 12 weeks: a reduction in fine lines, hyperpigmented marks, uneven redness and yellowing. ⚠️ Industry-run studies, with a set population and photographic measures: it is cited in support of the active, not of a product.
• Hakozaki T, Minwalla L, Zhuang J, et al. The effect of niacinamide on reducing cutaneous pigmentation and suppression of melanosome transfer. British Journal of Dermatology, 2002;147(1):20-31. PMID 12100180. — Niacinamide inhibited melanosome transfer by 35-68% in co-culture, and in two clinical trials with 5% niacinamide it significantly reduced hyperpigmentation against the vehicle. It is the evidence behind the niacinamide several of the pigmentation routine’s products contain.
• Hughes MCB, Williams GM, Baker P, Green AC. Sunscreen and prevention of skin aging: a randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2013;158(11):781-790. PMID 23732711. — A 4.5-year randomised trial in 903 adults: skin ageing measured by microtopography was 24% lower in the daily sunscreen group than in the discretionary-use group. It is the only long-term randomised trial supporting a cosmetic against ageing, and that is why sun protection is the step no routine from this tool leaves out.
• Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on cosmetic products. Consolidated text on EUR-Lex. — Article 2.1(a): a cosmetic is for “cleaning, perfuming, changing the appearance, protecting, keeping in good condition or correcting body odours”. No therapeutic action: that is why, when what you describe is a disease, the tool says so and refers you to a doctor — with severe acne it also stays on the safe base. Article 19.1(g): the ingredients list runs in decreasing order of weight above 1%, which is what makes an INCI readable.
• Commission Regulation (EU) No 655/2013 laying down common criteria for the justification of claims used in relation to cosmetic products. EUR-Lex. — Six criteria: legal compliance, truthfulness, evidential support, honesty, fairness and informed decision-making. It is the yardstick this tool measures what it says about each product against: what the manufacturer declares, with its source, and nothing more.

Book your consultation

If your skin or your situation does not quite fit this page — you have surgery planned, a recent scar, more than one thing worrying you — the skincare routine tool builds the routine from your answers in a minute, in your browser, without asking you for any details. And if you have questions or want to fine-tune it, write to us: the medical team will go through it with you, free and with no obligation.

Clinical confirmation by the surgeon

Dr Enrique Salmerón González

Specialist in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery
Registration no. 46/4624077

Dr Elena García Vilariño

Specialist in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery
Registration no. 46/4624503