ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Rosacea is characterized by erythema of the central face that persists for several months or longer. Reports of the histological changes in rosacea are scarce, and few attempts have been made to correlate such changes with clinical findings and pathophysiology. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to elucidate the clinical manifestations of rosacea and investigate its histological features. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 278 patients with histologically confirmed rosacea who visited the Department of Dermatology at the Catholic Medical Center between January 2008 and May 2013. Clinical subtypes, disease severity, and precipitating factors were evaluated. In 115 randomly selected patients, histopathological features were evaluated as well. RESULTS: The ratio of males to females was 1:1.8. The age distribution showed a peak incidence in the fifth decade. The most common subtype was papulopustular rosacea (52.9%) followed by erythematotelangiectatic rosacea (34.9%), ocular rosacea (4.0%), and phymatous rosacea (2.9%). Granulomatous rosacea accounted for 5.4% of rosacea cases. Precipitating factors included hot weather (54.7%), stress (51.8%), sun exposure (37.4%), alcohol (37.4%), and hot baths (33.1%). Histological analysis of skin biopsies from 115 patients revealed solar elastosis in 62 patients (53.9%) and telangiectasia in 85 patients (73.9%). CONCLUSION: In this study, Korean rosacea patients were predominantly female with a peak age in the fifth decade and the majority suffered from the papulopustular and erythematotelangiectatic types of rosacea. Histological observations pertaining to each rosacea type were also discussed.