Rosacea is a chronic, lifelong skin condition that affects (most often) the face. The disease is common: approximately 1 in every 20 Americans has rosacea. Women are affected more often in the early stages (flushing and erythrosis), but more men progress to the advanced stages and rhinophyma is seen almost exclusively in men over 40 years of age.
Rosacea is characterized by various skin disorders and sufferers must contend with skin flushing, erythrosis (reddish or purplish discoloration of the skin), teleangiectasia (permanent enlargement of small blood vessels), papulopustular rosacea (papules are small, red, raised bumps; pustules are similar but they contain pus) or rhinophyma (enlarged, red, swollen nose) and for many people, some of these signs and symptoms are very common; approximately 94% of people with rosacea have flushing. These attacks last from a few minutes to several hours, and the flushing seen in rosacea is intermittent in nature. The disease, to a greater or lesser degree, is progressive, and the more pronounced skin lesions will usually follow sporadic episodes of flushing.
The exact cause of rosacea has not been determined, but here are many...