The Irish Wellness Edit

A dermatologist on persistent facial redness — and why "more" skincare so often makes it worse.

The flushed cheeks, the reactive sting, the red that won't settle no matter what you try. There's a reason — and for a lot of women it's the opposite of what they've been doing.

Dr. Hae-won Lee

Consultant Dermatologist · illustrative

Dr. Hae-won Lee (illustrative). Image for illustration only.

"The most common thing I hear from women with red, reactive skin," says Dr. Hae-won Lee, a consultant dermatologist, "is that they've tried everything — and 'everything' usually means stronger and stronger products. By the time they come to me, the skin is more irritated than when they started. They assume they're not trying hard enough. Often it's the opposite."

Why the redness won't settle

The key, she explains, is the skin barrier — the protective outer layer that keeps moisture in and irritants out. "When that barrier is healthy, it's like an intact wall. When it's worn down — by harsh actives, acids, scrubs, over-cleansing — the wall develops gaps. Moisture escapes, irritants get in, and the skin sits in a near-constant state of reactive, flushed-looking redness. The frustrating part is that the things people reach for to fix redness are often the very things wearing the barrier down further."

Reactive, over-treated skin often looks red and feels tight — the hallmark of a barrier that needs calming, not stripping.

"You can think of it as a cycle," she adds. "Redness leads to stronger products, stronger products wear the barrier down more, and the worn barrier means more redness. The single most useful thing many women can do is step out of that cycle — and that almost always means doing less, more gently, not more."

Why "stronger" kept backfiring

"This is the part that makes women feel less foolish," she says. "The strong cleanser, the daily acid, the retinol layered on hoping to sort it — for an already-compromised barrier, each of those can be one more knock to a wall that's already full of gaps. The instinct to go harder is completely understandable. But for sensitised, reactive skin, gentler genuinely tends to achieve more than harsher."

A compromised barrier lets moisture out and irritants in — leaving skin reactive, sensitised and prone to persistent-looking redness.

Where centella fits — and what to look for

This is why she's so often asked about centella asiatica — the soothing botanical known as "cica" or tiger grass, refined for skincare into a concentrated form called TECA. "It has a long history of use on irritated, reactive and sensitised skin precisely because it's calming rather than stripping. For skin that's red and reactive from over-treatment, a gentle, well-tolerated, centella-based step is a sensible way to soothe the look of redness and support the barrier while it recovers."

Centella asiatica — "cica" or tiger grass, the soothing botanical refined into TECA.

She's clear about what that means. "A cosmetic moisturiser soothes and supports the appearance and comfort of the skin — it isn't a medicine and it doesn't treat any medical condition. If redness is severe, comes with bumps or visible vessels, or doesn't settle, that's a conversation for your GP or dermatologist, because it may be rosacea or something else that needs proper assessment. But for everyday reactive, over-treated skin, a formula like DermaGlow™ Madeca Cream from Radiance Ritual is one example of the gentle approach — a concentrated centella (TECA) cream with hyaluronic acid and ceramide to support the barrier, made without the fragrance and harsh actives that tend to aggravate this kind of skin. I mention it as an illustration of what to look for, not a cure."