In a single day, Dollie Timpe's life changed. It was shortly after she underwent minor surgery to remove a lesion from her face. Timpe, 84 years old, woke up one morning, the day before she was to return to her dermatologist for a follow-up appointment, with a strange and painful breakout on her face.

"There was a lot of redness and a lot of big pimples," Timpe said. "It just made me sick." It was especially difficult, said Timpe, because she was accustomed to having gorgeous white skin all of her life. "Everyone wanted to know my formula for perfect skin," she said.

Timpe made an emergency call to her dermatologist and arrived by 10 a.m. that morning. "I was in shock when he told me I had rosacea. I had never heard of it before," she said.

She now uses a topical antibiotic twice daily to control her symptoms.

"I still have some breakouts, but they are milder and less often," she said. "My sanity has been saved. I am getting my rosacea under control."

While Timpe had never heard of rosacea prior to this experience, she has since learned that her younger brother and two of her nieces, who are in their 30s and 40s, have rosacea.

"My niece was having a terrible time with it," Timpe said. So Timpe shared her cleansing and medication tips. "She seems to have it under control now. That makes me very happy," Timpe said.