What is rosacea?
Rosacea is a very common condition that predominantly affects the face. It's characterized by the development of redness, which is usually on the cheek, though it could be on the forehead and the chin area and the nose. Patients will notice a fluctuating redness. Some will have more of a tendency to flush than others. It's not uncommon for the redness to be associated with some red bumps, similar to what you would see in acne, and also some pus-filled bumps. It's also common for patients to develop little, thin, visible red blood vessels on their skin; they develop more of these than they would develop normally with age.
In some individuals with rosacea, the nose will become very bulbous. That's actually fairly uncommon and it only occurs in a small subset of men. This bulbous nose has been talked about as the W.C. Fields nose. That's why people equated rosacea with being caused by alcohol, but the bulbous nose is not caused by alcohol. Alcohol is only a flare factor.
Rosacea is not a condition that is curable, but there are ways that you can try to control the severity of it: the intensity and frequency of the flare-ups and the associated symptoms, which include a feeling of warmth, burning, stinging and skin that is easily irritated.
Who gets rosacea?
Rosacea usually develops after the teenage years, probably after 30, but it could also develop later. It tends to be more common in Caucasians, especially very fair-skinned Caucasians that are of Northern European origin such as people from Ireland, England, Scandinavia, Celtic origins, though it can affect anyone.
