How to Tell If It's Acne Or Rosacea

Would you be surprised if I told you that the acne you've been experiencing throughout your adulthood is actually rosacea? I recently had a friend tell me that while she thought she was struggling with acne over the past few years, upon visiting a new dermatologist she was diagnosed withrosacea. Andafter just a few weeks of therighttreatment- all of her skincare woes vanished.

The two are so remarkably similar that they often are mistaken for one another. Not every single person who suffers with acne is actually experiencing rosacea, butthe wrongfulanalysis between the two does occasionallyoccur andcan lead to wrongful skincare treatments. Really-It's notuncommon for people to be misdiagnosed withacne by a dermatologist or other healthcare professional, when in reality it's actually rosacea.

This can be dangerous when a person, who believes they have acne, actually has rosacea and begins treating their skin as if it is acne prone (there is acne rosacea, but that’s a whole other story). It can leave you feelingfrustrated when nothing is working and canexasperate your symptoms, making matters worse.

The two seem pretty different at a glance, so where does the confusion between acne and rosacea lay exactly? While they may have theirdifferences, the two are also similar in many ways. When it comes to acne and rosacea you may experience:

• Pimples, or pimple like breakouts
• Redness and inflammation
• Sensitivity, tenderness, or irritation
• Occurrences of outbreaks on the face, chest, and back

Besides the few commonoccurrences between the two, there are plenty of differences between acne and rosacea and by using this list you should be able to more easilydifferentiate between the two:

• Those who are acne prone tend to have oily skin while rosacea prone people have dry skin
• Those who are acne prone deal with a variety of blemishes- whiteheads, blackheads, pustules, and cysts while rosacea sufferers deal with pimple like breakouts that don't come to a head
• Those who are acne prone have redness around their breakouts ONLY while rosacea prone people may have red patches all over their face that come and go
• Those who are acne prone will have scars from larger blemishes like pustules or papules while rosacea prone skin will not
• Those who are acne prone tend to be younger while rosacea prone people are older
• In addition, rosacea sufferers will have large pores, visible blood vessels, and are usually very sensitive skin to makeup, skincare products, or even perfume.