Not only is rosacea now estimated to affect more than 16 million Americans, but a new survey by the National Rosacea Society documents the unusually wide range of potential signs and symptoms that may be associated with the disorder.

While the hot, spicy flavors of many cuisines offer a virtual explosion of taste, for many with rosacea such foods may result in an explosion of signs and symptoms as well. Here are some tips to keep a little sizzle in your meal without triggering a flare-up.

• Pass on hot peppers. In surveys, cayenne and red pepper were cited as rosacea triggers by more than a third of rosacea patients, while black pepper affected 18 percent and white pepper affected 9 percent.

Q. I keep seeing advice on how to prevent a flare-up, but not how to treat one. When I wake up in the morning and my face is covered in red bumps and pustules, is there any treatment that provides immediate relief?

Theresa Pignotti jokes that she was born in a dermatologist's office and saw her dermatologist more often than her own father while growing up. Although she had impetigo as a newborn and acne as an adolescent, she was still taken aback by her first rosacea flare-up. In fact, the 54-year-old respiratory therapist from Rhode Island vividly recalls that very day in 2000.

"I thought I would treat myself to a facial for my birthday," Theresa said, "but it just made my face go crazy. I looked like I was sunburned, and I had pimples and pustules all over."

A new study has found there may be a link between ocular rosacea and bacteria associated with Demodex mites, microscopic inhabitants of normal skin that tend to occur in much greater numbers in those with rosacea.

In the recently published study of 59 rosacea patients, Dr. Jianjing Li and colleagues at the Ocular Surface Center in Miami found a significant correlation between facial rosacea, infestation of the eyes with Demodex mites and reaction to certain mite-related organisms previously shown to stimulate an immune response in rosacea sufferers.¹

A recent study in Estonia of 348 randomly selected workers over 30 years of age found that 22 percent had one or more primary features of rosacea,¹ as identified in the standard classification system developed by the National Rosacea Society consensus committee and review panel of rosacea experts. The Slavic nation is located off the eastern Baltic Sea.

Reference

1. Abrams K, Silm H, Oona M. Prevalence of rosacea in an Estonian working population using a standard classification. Acta Derm Venereol 2010;90:269-273.

Because the flushing and facial redness of subtype 1 (erythematotelangiectatic) rosacea are difficult to treat with medical therapy, other measures may be especially important for successfully controlling this widespread form of rosacea, according to the standard management options for rosacea recently published by the National Rosacea Society (NRS).¹