Rosacea patients often must take special precautions in caring for their sensitive skin. Here are some general guidelines:

• Treat your skin gently. Avoid rough washcloths, loofahs, brushes, sponges and hot water, especially hot showers.

• Let your face rest. After blotting your face dry, wait a few minutes before applying topical medication. Then allow the medication to dry for five to 10 minutes before applying any make-up.

As far back as she can remember, Carole Storme's red nose was a fact of life, especially during the holidays and at family gatherings. Photos clearly documented the condition, but her doctor attributed it to her Irish heritage.

"Every time I would ask why my nose turns red, he would just laugh and say, 'It's because you're Irish,' " she explained.

Q: Is wine used in cooking, wherein the alcohol has evaporated, still considered a rosacea trigger?

A. It stands to reason that wine may not affect your rosacea if the alcohol is removed in cooking. However, as with all rosacea triggers, what affects one person may not affect another. If wine affects your rosacea, the only way to know for sure whether its residue in cooking is also a trigger is to try it to determine your sensitivity.

Results of a new survey by the National Rosacea Society (NRS) dispelled the common myth that rosacea usually affects people between the ages of 30 and 50, and also found that new signs and symptoms may develop decades after the initial onset of the condition.

In the NRS survey of 1,391 rosacea patients, only 43 percent said their rosacea first appeared between the ages of 30 and 50, while 39 percent reported that the disorder occurred after age 50 and an additional 17 percent said they developed rosacea prior to age 30.

Although flushing may be the most difficult component of rosacea to treat, it can be controlled with a variety of options that must be tailored to each individual -- including medications for severe cases -- according to physicians now developing standard disease management options as part of a consensus committee organized by the National Rosacea Society (NRS).

Rhinophyma, in which the enlargement of tissue results in a bulbous and bumpy appearance of the nose in some rosacea sufferers, may usually be effectively addressed with laser surgery, according to Dr. Jeffrey Dover, associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University.

"Although rhinophyma may be generally unresponsive to oral or topical therapy, it is usually very amenable to surgical approaches," he said. "Besides manual surgery, electrosurgery and lasers are often very effective in reducing the excess tissue and returning the nose to a more normal appearance."

The bumps (papules) and pimples (pustules) of rosacea, a widespread facial disorder affecting an estimated 14 million Americans, in some instances may be the result of an allergy-like reaction to environmental and emotional triggers, according to new study results presented at the National Rosacea Society (NRS) research workshop during the annual meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology. The seventh annual NRS workshop was attended by more than 130 medical scientists from around the world.