Rosacea

What is rosacea?

Rosacea is a skin condition that mostly affects your face. It causes redness and can make your skin feel sore or burning. It's a long-term condition, which means it doesn't go away quickly, but treatment can help make it better.

Rosacea is more common in women and people with lighter skin. However, when men get it, the symptoms are often worse.

What does rosacea look like?

The first signs you might notice are:

• Redness that comes and goes - Your nose, cheeks, forehead, chin, neck or chest might go red for a few minutes at a time. This looks like blushing. Your face might also feel warm, hot or painful when this happens.

• Burning or stinging feeling - Your skin might hurt when you use water or put creams on your face.

If you have brown or black skin, the redness might be harder to see.

As rosacea gets worse, you might notice:

• Your cheeks, nose and forehead stay red all the time
• Tiny broken blood vessels on your skin that don't go away
• Small pink or red bumps on your face (sometimes with yellowish liquid inside)
• Dry skin
• Swelling around your eyes
• Yellow-orange patches on your skin
• Sore eyelids or crusty bits around your eyelashes
• Thickened skin (this usually happens after many years and mostly affects the nose)

What makes rosacea worse?

Nobody knows exactly what causes rosacea, but certain things can make it flare up:

• Drinking alcohol
• Eating spicy foods
• Having hot drinks
• Being in sunlight
• Very hot or cold weather
• Exercise like running
• Feeling stressed

When to speak to your GP

See your GP if you think you might have rosacea. The symptoms can look like other skin conditions, so it's important to get the right diagnosis.

Get urgent help if you have rosacea and notice any of these eye problems:

• Your eye is painful
• Your vision is blurry
• You're very sensitive to light
• You have a red eye
• Your eye feels gritty

These could be signs of a serious eye condition called keratitis that needs urgent treatment.

How is rosacea treated?

Rosacea can't be cured, but your GP can help control the symptoms. Without treatment, it often gets worse.

Your GP might suggest:

• Special creams or gels to put on your skin
• Antibiotics to take for 6 to 16 weeks

If these treatments don't work, your GP might refer you to a skin specialist.

What you can do to help

Things that might help:

• Wear high SPF sunscreen (at least SPF 30) every day
• Try to stay out of hot, sunny or humid places when possible
• Cover your face in cold weather
• Use gentle skincare products made for sensitive skin
• Clean your eyelids once a day if they're sore
• Try to manage stress
• Avoid things that trigger your rosacea (like alcohol or spicy food)

Things to avoid:

• Alcohol
• Hot drinks
• Spicy food
• Too much running or similar exercise

Remember, rosacea isn't caused by poor hygiene and you can't catch it from someone else.

If rosacea affects how you feel about yourself, the charity Changing Faces can offer support on 0300 012 0275.

---

Based on NHS.uk guidance. Written by Dr Krishnan Pasupathi, NHS GP.