Rosacea is a skin disorder which is mainly connected to the face. This is because rosacea often causes red patch on facial skin, nose, forehead, and chin. In some cases, it causes small red pimples which is followed by burning sensation. People with rosacea might or might not realize the occurrence of it, as some rosacea symptoms are quite mild and do not cause discomfort. Yet, some people experience a very bad rosacea outbreak with visible signs that does not only occur on the face.

How does rosacea spread?

Rosacea is mostly genetic. Therefore, there are a number of people who are more susceptible to this skin disorder. This is also an auto-immune disease, which relies a lot on your unique immune system. Rosacea commonly occur on the facial areas and mostly affects nose, forehead, and chin. The red patch which is persistent may lie across the nose and causes burning sensation. Rosacea outbreak is caused by diluted blood vessels beneath the skin. Although does not cause painful discomfort, this outbreak may promote burning and itching. When you have severe itching and burning, you are more likely to scratch the affected areas. Harsh scratch can break the tiny blood vessels which are already visible. As the result, more diluted, enlarged blood vessels can be easily seen.

Can rosacea spread to other areas on your face?

Although commonly seen on nose and facial skin, rosacea which is left untreated may spread into some other areas of the face and head. Some people experience the same burning sensation followed by persistent redness on their ears following initial rosacea flare up. Although most of the time rosacea stays in the place where they initially occur, some people do experience spreading rosacea. The most common body parts affected by spreading facial rosacea are neck, chin, and ears. The same symptoms are occurring on these areas. In worse outbreak, rosacea may affect nose and eyes, causing other rosacea subtypes. The nose subtype might cause rhinophyma. This is a condition where fibrous on the nose are thickening. This rosacea might cause inflated nose which is accompanied by small blisters on it. This subtype of rosacea can hardly be removed with oral and topical medications. Thus, surgical procedures are suggested. On the other hand, ocular rosacea might cause bloodshot eye and inflated eyelids. This condition might be accompanied by dry flake occurrence which affect the eyelid and eyelashes areas. Untreated ocular rosacea can cause blurry vision and further wise might cause vision loss.

However, rosacea is believed to be unable to spread to the other body parts. Some people have reported reddish patches and bumps over the arms and back similar to the symptom of rosacea. Yet, experts believe this is not spreading rosacea, since arms, back, and legs are less susceptible to this skin problem. Another disease known as keratosis pilaris is one often misdiagnosed as spreading rosacea. The symptoms between the two infections are similar, such as rough patches, acne-like bumps. However, keratosis pilaris is often accompanied by severe itching, while burning is more common with rosacea.

How to prevent rosacea from spreading?

Rosacea is an autoimmune skin disorder which stays for life. The outbreak can be triggered by some things and is not continuously happening. When flaring up, rosacea can be easily detected through the persistent redness, acne-like bumps, and burning sensation occurring on facial skin, nose, and possibly eyes. Treating rosacea as soon as it initiates will lessen the possibility of spreading. Avoiding the potential trigger may inhibit the outbreak and therefore, preventing the possibility of spreading. When having the symptoms, you should immediately talk to your doctor regarding the suitable treatment. Cutting down the triggering diets, such as red meat, sugary snacks, and less fibrous diets is beneficial for decreasing worse infection possibility. Covering your body from excessive sunlight also helps inhibiting rosacea from spreading. This disease is easily activated by warm weather or heat. Thus, keeping your room conditioned might be helpful in healing the infection. Once you have recovered from any rosacea outbreak, do your best in controlling your diet so that it is not reactivated.