06/09/2026
I really do hope that the role of the brain-gut-skin axis becomes part of the rosacea conversation from the very beginning.
That when someone is diagnosed, they’re not just given a list of triggers to avoid, or a topical or pharmaceutical treatment to try, but are actually given a framework for understanding what may be influencing their skin.
Because without that framework, the search continues.
You keep looking for another food to remove, another trigger to eliminate, another thing to try or another thing to avoid, while inadvertently adding more stress to an already exhausted stress response that remains unchecked.
And this is why I’m so excited about the research.
I saw how my thoughts, beliefs, learned adaptations, emotional experiences, behaviours and stress response were influencing my skin. Then I learnt about their connection to the nervous system, and how I could actually support this system.
But for a long time, I only had my own experience to validate what I was seeing.
To now see researchers investigating this relationship gives me so much more confidence that what I was observing wasn’t simply an anomaly. It has legitimacy.
And to me, this is just the beginning. This research can continue to expand our understanding of the brain-gut-skin connection and, hopefully, change the way skin conditions are approached and treated.
My hope is that this becomes part of the mainstream conversation sooner rather than later.
But until then, I’m going to keep spreading this message.
I’m going to keep sharing what helped me, talking about the role of psychological stress and the nervous system, and offering my services to help others explore this piece of their own rosacea journey.
For those who missed it, this is the article I’m referring to:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12941723/