Rosacea

Alternative Names

Rosacea

What is Rosacea

Rosacea is a disease that affects your skin. It is characterized by redness and pimples on your nose, cheeks, chin and forehead. The redness may be either permanent or temporary. This disease also called "adult acne", because it can cause outbreaks that look like acne. It can also lead to burning and soreness in the eyes and eyelids.

Signs and symptoms

The most common symptoms of rosacea include:

• A flushed face and pimples or bumps on or around the cheeks, nose, mouth and forehead. In some cases, the flushing or redness can last for days.
• Tiny red veins on the face that look like spiderwebs.
• Burning or stinging facial skin, especially when they apply lotions or medicines. The face may feel increasingly dry, sensitive or sunburned.
• Dry, red, irritated eyes. The eyelids may look red and swollen and vision may be blurry.

Possible complications

In severe and rare cases, this disease may cause enlargement of the oil glands (sebaceous glands) in your nose and sometimes your cheeks, resulting in a buildup of tissue on and around your nose (rhinophyma). This complication is more prevalent men and develops slowly over a period of years.

What causes

Doctors do not know the exact cause of rosacea. It typically affects people with fair skin or blush easily, and it seems to run in families.

Rosacea often flares when something causes the blood vessels in the face to expand which causes redness. Things that cause a flare-up are called triggers. Common triggers are exercise, sun and wind exposure, hot weather, stress, spicy foods, alcohol and hot baths. Swings in temperature from hot to cold or cold to hot can also cause a flare-up of rosacea.

Prevention

Unfortunately, rosacea is unpreventable, but you can take certain steps to decrease or manage your symptoms. These steps include:

• Continue your treatment plan. It is very important to complete your treatment in order to avoid serious complications.
• Be gentle to your skin. You should wash areas daily with a gentle cleanser and use oil-free, water-based skin care products.
• Avoid rosacea triggers such as extreme temperatures, sun exposure, spicy foods, alcohol and stress

Treatment

Your doctor may prescribe medicines and other treatments for rosacea, but there is no cure. With some treatments, most people can manage their symptoms and keep the disease from getting worse.

Antibiotic creams or pills are used to treat redness and pimples. Antibiotic pills also help to treat eye problems. Pregnant women should not use some antibiotic creams or pills. If you use antibiotics, be patient, because it can take a month or two before you start to see improvement.

If antibiotics are helpless, your doctor may recommend you stronger medicines such as isotretinoin (such as Sotret) or tretinoin cream (Retin-A). It is not recommended to use these medicines if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

Surgery or other treatments may help your skin look better if you have advanced rosacea. Choices may include dermabrasion, cryosurgery or laser surgery.