Often times, people confuse acne redness with acne rosacea, but the two are completely different conditions. Acne redness is a result of the acne healing process, while rosacea is a chronic skin disease, which occurs mostly in adults.

Many of the treatments used on acne can help to reduce acne redness as well. In particular, lemon juice is effective for both; you just leave it on your face (either undiluted or mixed with 50% water) for twenty to thirty minutes per day. Additionally, the lemon juice is also effective for getting the smell off your face if you try rubbing it with garlic. Why would you want to rub garlic on your face? As it turns out, doing so is one of the quickest ways to get rid of acne redness; just cut the garlic in half and rub it over the red areas.

There is a chemical called tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride that constricts blood vessels and can be used to eliminate redness; it is found in visine red eyes. Use a cotton swap to apply it lightly to the red areas of your face.

As with zits, you can sometimes see good results using toothpaste, but avoid leaving it on for too long. It will dry out your skin, which makes the redness less noticeable, but is a bad thing if done to excess. You don’t want to prematurely age your skin!

None of this will have any effect whatsoever on rosacea, which really has nothing to do with acne. If you have what appears to be a permanent blush (although for the first few years it does go away for periods), you’ll want to consult a doctor. Left untreated, rosacea can lead to an enlarged nose, puffy cheeks, burning eyes, and even loss of site; it can be treated with topical antibiotics and cortisone.