Both a blistering sunburn and a family history of rosacea were associated with the presence of rosacea, according to study results presented by Dr. Alexa Boer Kimball, associate professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, at the recent annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.¹

The National Rosacea Society (NRS) has awarded funding for four new studies as part of its research grants program to advance scientific knowledge of the potential causes and other key aspects of this chronic and potentially life-disruptive disorder that affects an estimated 14 million Americans.

Although they are normal inhabitants of human skin and cannot be seen, microscopic mites known as Demodex folliculorum may actually be something to blush about, as a new study funded by the National Rosacea Society demonstrated for the first time that these invisible organisms may be a cause or exacerbating factor in rosacea.¹

Important new studies, funded by the National Rosacea Society (NRS) research grants program, continue to increase understanding of how specific substances in the body can produce the signs and symptoms of rosacea, leading the way toward significant advances in the treatment of this widespread and often life-disruptive disorder.

A new study funded by the National Rosacea Society provides further evidence that rosacea may be far more common than widely believed, and also assesses the potential significance of sun exposure.

The recently completed study, presented at the 2008 British Association of Dermatologists meeting by Dr. Maeve McAleer and colleagues at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and the School of Public Health and Population Science, University College, Dublin, found that 14.4 percent of 1,000 subjects examined in Ireland had rosacea.

In a report of one patient, cinnamon was potentially linked to an increase in severity of the patient's rosacea, according to a report in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology.¹

Researchers Dr. Tracy Campbell and colleagues at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago reported that a woman with diabetes and mild papulopustular rosacea on the nose experienced a sudden spread of symptoms from her eyelids to her chin after using 500-mg cinnamon supplements to help control blood sugar levels.

Areas of rosacea research deemed most important by patients are the potential causes of the skin disorder, followed closely by research on eye symptoms and the progression of the condition, according to a survey conducted by the National Rosacea Society (NRS).

Results of two recent studies provide new understanding of how and when angiogenesis -- the formation of new blood vessels -- may contribute both to the initial development of rosacea and its persistent presence. In a study of skin samples with and without rosacea, taken from biopsies and evaluated under a microscope, Dr. Amal Gomaa and colleagues at Boston University found evidence of angiogenesis in both the blood and lymphatic circulatory systems in skin with rosacea lesions.¹

Pa Vang, the daughter of Hmong immigrants from the mountains of Laos who settled in Minnesota following the Vietnam War, does not fit the stereotypical mold of a rosacea patient -- who is often fair-skinned, older and of northern European descent. But the sophomore at the University of Minnesota-Morris who was diagnosed with rosacea in her early teens is doing her part to broaden the public's perception of the disorder and whom it affects.