Rosacea (ro-ZA-she-uh) is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition that causes redness and swelling primarily in your face and produces small, red, pus-filled bumps or pustules.
Since rosacea causes facial swelling and redness, it is easily confused with other skin conditions, such as acne and sunburn. For this reason, rosacea is known as the “great pretender,” and often incorrectly referred to as “adult acne.”
Dermatological vascular laser (single wavelength) or Intense Pulsed Light (broad spectrum) machines offer one of the best treatments for rosacea, in particular for the redness of the skin. Such lasers use light to penetrate the epidermis to target the capillaries in the dermis layer of the skin. The light is absorbed by oxy-hemoglobin which heat up causing the capillary walls to heat up to 70 °C (158 °F), damaging them, causing them to be absorbed by the body's natural defense mechanism. With a sufficient number of treatments, this method may even eliminate the redness altogether, though additional periodic treatments will likely be necessary to remove newly-formed capillaries. (See Cosmetic Laser Procedures or Advanced Technology).