Friday, May 18th, 2012

News Feed Comments

You are here: Home

What is Rosacea ?


Rosacea is a recurring skin condition mostly defined by facial redness(erythema). Sometimes pimples are included in the definition too. Typically, it is an innocuous condition unless it effects the eyes. It largely affects Caucasians with northwestern-European descent. People from Ireland and Britain nicknamed the cosmetic condition as “Curse of the Celts” but it can affect other ethnicities aswel. Even though both women and men are affected by Rosacea, it was found that the number of women affected is almost three times as big as the number of men and mostly develops between the ages of 30 and 60.
Rosacea often emerges as redness on the nose, central face and forehead or cheeks, but it can also affect the chest, ears, neck and scalp, though less commonly. Sometimes it can also develop additional symptoms, like red gritty eyes, stinging sensation, burning sensation, dilation of the blood vessels near the surface of the face (telangiectasia), semi-permanent redness, and in advanced stages, rhinophyma.
There are 4 rosacea subtypes and an individual is not always limited to just one subtype:
  • Papulopustular rosacea – permanent redness accompanied by papules (red bumps) filled with pus (pustules); most oftenly confused with acne.
  • Erythematotelangiectatic rosacea – it is characterized as permanent redness or erythema and tendency to blush and flush very easily. Also common in this subtype are telangiectasias and sensations of itching and burning.
  • Phymatous rosacea – Mostly associated with rhinophyma. It can cause symptoms such as thickening of the skin, enlargement, irregular nodularities on the surface. It can also cause blepharophyma (when it affects the eyelids), gnathophyma (when it affects the chin), metophyma (when it affects the forehead and otophyma (when it affects the ears). Also as in Erythematotelangiectatic rosacea, telangiectasias may be present.
  • Ocular rosacea – as the name suggests, this type of Rosacea is characterized as irritated eyes and eyelids. Other symptoms may include burning, itching and strange body sensations.
  • NOTE:  it will open in a new window as to not disturb your reading experience.
Rosacea can be caused by a number of factors such as:
  • Intestinal Bacteria – In a fairly recent study where patients were subject to hydrogen breath tests aimed at detecting the development frequency of SIBO or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, it was found that bacterial overgrowth was present in significantly more patiens vis-a-vis the controls. The patients that tested hydrogen-positive were then given a 10-day treatment with rifaximin (a non-absorbable antibiotic that does not leave the digestive tract and therefore does not reach the skin). Of all the patients under the rosacea treatment 96% experienced a complete remission of rosacea symptoms which lasted more than 9 months. The patients also tested negative for bacterial overgrowth. In the remaining 4% of the patients the bacterial overgrowth returned. They were put under treatment for a second time which again normalized the hydrogen excretion and eliminated the rosacea symptoms. Other studies found that some hydrogen-negative rosacea patients tested positive for bacterial growth when subject to methane breath test. Little improvement was shown with rifaximin, but remission of rosacea symptoms and normalization of methane excretion was experienced after the administration of metronidazole (an antibiotic effective at eliminating methanogenic intestinal bacteria. The results suggest that treatment may vary between patients and that different species of intestinal bacteria can be capable of clearing rosacea symptoms.
  • Cathelicidins – In a study conducted by Richard Gallo and his colleagues, it was noticed that there is an increased level of SCTEs or stratum corneum tryptic enzymes and peptide cathelicidin present in rosacea patients.
  • Demodex mites – It has been revealed that rosacea patients have increased numbers of the mite, especially those who suffer from steroid-induced rosacea.
Most people with rosacea present only a mild redness and they are never diagnosed or treated. There is no specific test for rosacea. The simple visual inspection by a trained person can be sufficient for diagnosis in many cases. In cases where primples and redness is present in less-common parts of the face, a trial of treatments can succesfully confirm a diagnosis.