•  A flushed face and pimples or bumps on or around the cheeks, nose, mouth, and forehead. Sometimes the flushing or redness can last for days. 
• Tiny red veins on the face that look like spiderwebs.
• Burning or stinging facial skin, especially when they apply lotions or medicines. The face may feel increasingly dry, sensitive, or sunburned.
• Dry, red, irritated eyes. The eyelids may look red and swollen, and vision may be blurry.

 A photograph of a patient with moderate to severe rosacea is shown below.

When rosacea first develops, the redness may come and go. Rosacea often flares when something causes the blood vessels in the face to expand, which causes redness. Things that cause a flare-up are called triggers. Common triggers are exercise, sun and wind exposure, hot weather, stress, spicy foods, alcohol, and hot baths. Swings in temperature from hot to cold or cold to hot can also cause a flare-up of rosacea.  Although mild rosacea causes transient redness and acne-like symptoms, when the skin doesn't return to its normal color, and when other symptoms such as pimples and enlarged blood vessels become visible, treatment is needed to prevent the condition from getting worse. Without treatment, some cases of rosacea can cause knobby bumps on the nose and cheeks that can multiply. This is advanced rosacea, known as rhinophyma. Over time, it can give the nose a swollen, waxy look. But most cases of rosacea don't progress this far. Although considerable research has been conducted over many years by experts in the field, there is still no consensus on the cause or causes of rosacea. It seems to run in families and it is more prevalent in fair skin individuals., Some researchers think rosacea may be linked to a common mite, called demodex,  that lives in the hair follicles on the skin. There is also data that patients carrying the stomach bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, have an increased incidence of rosacea, but most experts don’t feel that this is the cause of the disease. 

How is it treated?

While there is no cure for rosacea, there are prescription medicines that can help reduce the symptoms of the disease. There are no OTC drug products available to treat rosacea, and the efficacy of prescription drugs in keeping rosacea symptoms under control vary considerable. Some prescription treatments for rosacea are listed below.

• Two commonly used topical drugs for rosacea are Metrogel (Metronidazole) and Finacea (Azelaic acid). While these won’t eliminate all rosacea symptoms they do help.
• Antibiotic creams or pills may be used to treat redness and pimples. Antibiotic pills may also help treat eye problems. Women who are pregnant should not use some antibiotic creams or pills. Antibiotics may take a month or two before symptoms improve.
• Stronger medicines that may be tried if antibiotics don't control your rosacea include isotretinoin (Accutane) or tretinoin cream (Retin-A). 
• Surgery or other treatments may help your skin look better if you have advanced rosacea. Choices may include dermabrasion, cryosurgery or laser surgery.
• The use of topical steroids, the most frequently prescribed medicine in dermatology should be avoided since it makes rosacea worse.

 Therametics Technology

 Therametics scientists have discovered a "family" of plant-derived anti-inflammatory compounds that have been found, in clinical studies, to effectively reduce the symptoms of rosacea. This Therosol® technology has now been formulated into a topical product called Redness Correction. The product also contains a green pigment that when applied to the skin instantly reduces the appearance of a red face. For more information on Therosol® and its use in clinical studies on rosacea, click here.