The Skin Care Fact Center

It is not hard to imagine that the skin disease called “rosacea” is one of the most misspelled skin afflictions in the field of medicine.  It is often referred to as rosacia, rosecea, roseacea, roscea and a few other mis-spelled names, but the correct spelling of this aggravating skin condition is R-o-s-a-c-e-a.

Mistakenly, you might hear this skin condition called acne rosacea because its symptoms (i.e. pimples, pustules, whiteheads) closely resembling the universal skin disease labeled Acne Vulgaris, which translated is ‘common acne.’  However the reality is that rosecea is something totally different .  This skin disorder primarily affects the skin on the face and is characterized by times of skin aggravation followed by a period of remission.  The leading difference between acne and rosacea is that rosacea generally commences after thirty years old and can be contracted by men and women well into their late 40’s.  

Common Mis-Spellings of Rosacea

Our studies have shown that close to 10% of the searches performed on leading search engines by men and women seeking more facts about Rosacea are mis-spelled versions of the correct medical term.  Compiling a list of the highest incident mis-spellings, the pronunciation of these terms seems to be phonetically spelled out:  rosacia, rosecea, roseacea, roscea, roseaca. 

If you think that these inaccurate spellings are a fluke, think again!  They are searched for between 325 times for the highest incident of mis-spelled terms (rosacia) down to 33 times for the lowest (rosacae) on an average day.   Even though mis-spellings are discouraged by Google and Yahoo, numerous search results can be found using these incorrectly spelled terms to help the rosacea sufferers who have tried their best to find more information about this skin condition.

What Is Rosacea?

Despite how you spell “Rosacea”, the effects of the skin condition are generally the same over the broader population.  Even though each individual afflicted with this skin disease can have various symptoms and various degrees of severity, the disease can usually be diagnosed easily by a certified dermatologist.  The primary symptoms can be identified as a reddening of the nose, both cheeks, the chin, and possibly forehead.  These symptoms are slightly different from person to person and will go into remission after a flare-up .  

It’s a sad fact that there is no medical solution for this skin condition.  However, with medical treatment and lifestyle adjustments, it can be brought under control.   Despite if we mis-spell this condition as rosecea, roscea, or roseca, the symptoms and challenging emotional effects will be the same.