Could rosacea be affecting your peepers? Celebrity facialist Nathalie Eleni takes a look and tries a new treatment to ease the soreness
Words: Nathalie Eleni | Images: Shutterstock
While most people recognise rosacea from flushing, sensitivity and visible broken capillaries across the cheeks and nose, far fewer realise that it can quietly inflame the eyes as well. Up to 80 per cent of rosacea patients develop ocular symptoms, often without understanding the connection, leading to burning, gritty, bloodshot eyes that feel sore, dry and constantly irritated.
Rosacea affects adults of all ages but is especially common in women over age 30. Triggers such as heat, sun, alcohol, spicy foods, stress and poor sleep often drive both skin and eye flare-ups. As inflammation builds, the tiny oil-producing meibomian glands in the eyelids can become blocked. The oils (meibum) prevent tears from evaporating too quickly; when they thicken or clog, the result is burning, stinging and episodes of blurred vision.
‘The skin on your eyelids is the thinnest on your body, and it sits right on top of the meibomian glands that keep your tears from evaporating too fast,’ explains ophthalmic and oculoplastic surgeon Dr Rachna Murthy. ‘Heavy, waterproof mascaras, harsh cleansers, fragranced anti-ageing eye creams, face glitter, tightlining (pencil or liquid liner drawn inside the lash line) and using strong actives such as retinol or acids directly on the top lid can all irritate this area and clog those glands, especially if you have rosacea,’ she explains.
I was having a rosacea flare-up every summer – until I tried these 5 beauty products to minimize it
Eye-safe beauty swaps
Make-up doesn’t have to be the enemy. The key is choosing products designed from the start to be safe. Èyes Are The Story is one such range, created with ophthalmic input, using formulations tested on dry, sensitive and post-procedure eyes. Brand founders Dr Rachna Murthy and Dr Jonathan Roos say they encourage their patients to:
- Swap waterproof mascaras and tightline pencils for eye-safe versions, and apply outside the lash line.
- Use gentle, non-oily removers to cleanse lids and lashes. They break down bacteria, biofilm and leftover make-up while staying kind to the eye surface as well as the natural microbiome.
- Replace eye products regularly so bacteria-laden cosmetics aren’t getting near the glands.
A trip to the experts
I went along to the FaceRestoration clinic on Harley Street run by Dr Murthy and Prof Roos, where they offer OptimEyes™️, a holistic treatment that looks at your skin, eyelids and gut as one connected system, helping eyes look bright and feel comfortable – not sore and sandpaper-dry.
Light-based therapies do the deep work. Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is used along the cheeks and lids to close down abnormal surface vessels and gently warm the meibum, while Low-Level Eye Light Therapy (LLLT) from Espansione Eye-Light supports the glands at a cellular level. Each session is followed by careful meibomian gland expression – a precise, warm “squeeze” that melts and clears the thickened oil so it can flow freely again, easing burning, blurring and that tired, gritty feeling.
The treatment feels very soothing and relaxing and your eyes will never have felt so good. But even before my treatment, just using Purifeyes for a few weeks made a noticeable difference. I couldn’t believe how much the cleansing spray alone helped – the blurring and irritation simply vanished.
OptimEyes™️ is £400 per session in clinic and a course of four is recommended, one month apart. There are clinics in London and Cambridge; visit facerestoration.com.
Follow Nathalie at instagram.com/nathalieeleni_beauty.
