What is rosacea?
Rosacea is a common but badly understood long term skin condition that mainly affects the face. It is not infectious, and the exact cause is unknown, although there are many factors that are suggested.
What are the symptoms?
Rosacea causes a range of symptoms, but many may not experience all of them. Most people who have times when their symptoms are worse but also times when it is not as bad. The main symptoms are:
- Flushing of skin
- Persistent facial redness
- Thickened skin
- Visible blood vessels
- Pores enlarge
- Papules and pustules
Other symptoms:
- Sensitive skin – itching, burning, stinging and pain
- Dry, rough skin
- Raised red patches
- Facial swelling
Flushing: the skin will turn red for a short period of time (may be a few minutes). It tends to mainly affects the face but can spread to neck and chest. In rosacea, flushing is often caused by certain triggers such as sun exposure, hot drinks or exercise.
Persistent facial redness: this is like a blush or a patch of sunburn that does not go away. The redness is normally around the cheeks, nose and chi but can spread to the forehead, neck and chest.
Visible blood vessels: over time blood vessels in the skin may become permanently widened and visible.
Papules and pustules: may develop round red bumps that rise from your skin (papules) and pus-filled swellings (pustules). These spots appear on your face and are like acne.
Thickened skin: in serious cases the skin can thicken and form excess tissue, usually around the nose. It can take several years to even show.
What are the causes?
There are no exact causes of rosacea as they are unknown. There are factors that are said to be related to the cause. These are:
- Blood vessel abnormalities
- Skin peptides – activation by uv light, spicy food, alcohol, exercise, stress, heat.
- Helicobacter pylori bacteria – bacteria found in the digestive system, can lead to production of the protein bradykinin which causes blood vessels to expand
- Genetics- families.
Triggers to rosacea are:
- Exposure to sunlight
- Stress
- Cold and hot weather
- Strong winds
- Alcohol
- Hot baths
- Humidity
- Caffeine
- Dairy products
- Medical conditions
- Medicines
- Hot drinks
What are the treatments?
Rosacea can not be cured but you can keep symptoms under control by:
- Avoiding things that trigger rosacea and the symptoms
- Taking good care of your skin
- Keeping your skin and eyelids clean.
Antibiotics can be given to help with inflammation of the skin. Antibiotics that are used include tetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxycycline and erythromycin. These medications are usually taken for four to six weeks but longer times can be set to help with persistent spots.
Creams and gels can also be used to help the symptoms made by rosacea such as redness, dry skin, spots.
