When the scrapbook editor was a lass, the Lamars called her "Rosy Red Cheeks." (She called them some things, too.) As you might imagine, the psychological scars were deep, and made her what she is today. The Lamars' lack of compassion was especially shocking given that the scrapblog editor's glowing face is the result of a genetic medical condition that y
ou cousins may well pass on to future generations, except for you lucky-duck adopted cousins.
Rosacea gets worse as a person gets older, so no need to worry that the scrapblog editor has taken up heavy drinking. Rosacea is exacerbated by cold, heat, wind, stress, excitement, exercise, hormones, wine, chocolate, spicy food and being called Rosy Red Cheeks. Basically, the scrapblog editor can't say boo without turning red. Topical treatments haven't done much good. The scrapbook editor, who also has been treated for the dreaded ocular rosacea, has learned to live with the trauma. If she ever turns pale, call 911.
Many famous people have had rosacea, including Rembrandt, W.C. Fields and Bill Clinton. Aunt Alverna and Uncle Ed also had modest rosacea. If you have nothing to do and feel like shocking yourself, type "rosacea" into Google images and see what you get.
This week, the scrapblog editor's coworkers forwarded her several stories by science writers that explain all. Here's one:
Mystery solved: Abnormal proteins cause rosacea
By Alison Williams
(c) 2007, Los Angeles Times
Researchers have solved a medical mystery that has eluded them for hundreds of years, demonstrating that an abundance of abnormal skin proteins causes the blotchy skin condition called rosacea.
In a study published Sunday in the online edition of the journal Nature Medicine, scientists showed that people with rosacea have too much of a protein called cathelicidin that is processed incorrectly. The results could aid resea
rchers in designing an effective treatment for the disease, which affects 14 million people in the United States.
"We haven't had this kind of important finding in the study of rosacea for a long time," said dermatologist Jenny Kim of David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Rosacea is a skin disease that causes redness, visible blood vessels, bumps and pimples on the face. It tends to strike more women, usually between ages 30 and 60, but men often have more severe symptoms. "It's an appearance-related disease, so many people suffer from low self-esteem, and that can affect their everyday life," Kim said.
Options for treatment include light therapy to decrease rednes
s, avoiding known triggers such as spicy foods and heat, and prescribing antibiotics that don't work for every patient.
"Treatment could now be much more rationally designed," said Dr. Robert Gallo, chairman of dermatology at the University of California, San Diego, and senior author of the study.
About a dozen years ago, researchers in Gallo's lab discovered cathelicidin proteins, which help defend against infections in the skin. Gallo and his colleagues went on to find an association between the protein and skin conditions such as eczema. The team later found that cathelicidin could cause the redness that is the hallmark of rosacea, so they started searching for a link.
The researchers took skin biopsies from 11 people with rosacea and 10 healthy people who served as controls. What they found was "a double hit of things going abnormally," Gallo said.
All the rosacea patients had too much cathelicidin, most of which was abnormal. There also was an abundance of a molecule that processes cathelicidin from an inactive to an active form. The way cathelicidin is processed is crucial to determining whether the protein will act as a defense against infection or promote inflammation, according to the study. Experiments on mice confirmed the theory.
One of the most common treatments for rosacea is the antibiotic tetracycline. The study suggests that the drug is successful in rosacea patients because it inhibits cathelicidin processing, not because of its bacterial-killing properties. Future treatments might target the excessive production of cathelicidin's precursor, Gallo said.
On the Internet:
Nature Medicine:
www.nature.com/naturemedicine
National Rosacea Society:
www.rosacea.org
When the scrapbook editor was a lass, the Lamars called her "Rosy Red Cheeks." (She called them some things, too.) As you might imagine, the psychological scars were deep, and made her what she is today. The Lamars' lack of compassion was especially shocking given that the scrapblog editor's glowing face is the result of a genetic medical condition that y
ou cousins may well pass on to future generations, except for you lucky-duck adopted cousins.
Rosacea gets worse as a person gets older, so no need to worry that the scrapblog editor has taken up heavy drinking. Rosacea is exacerbated by cold, heat, wind, stress, excitement, exercise, hormones, wine, chocolate, spicy food and being called Rosy Red Cheeks. Basically, the scrapblog editor can't say boo without turning red. Topical treatments haven't done much good. The scrapbook editor, who also has been treated for the dreaded ocular rosacea, has learned to live with the trauma. If she ever turns pale, call 911.
Many famous people have had rosacea, including Rembrandt, W.C. Fields and Bill Clinton. Aunt Alverna and Uncle Ed also had modest rosacea. If you have nothing to do and feel like shocking yourself, type "rosacea" into Google images and see what you get.
This week, the scrapblog editor's coworkers forwarded her several stories by science writers that explain all. Here's one:
Mystery solved: Abnormal proteins cause rosacea
By Alison Williams
(c) 2007, Los Angeles Times
Researchers have solved a medical mystery that has eluded them for hundreds of years, demonstrating that an abundance of abnormal skin proteins causes the blotchy skin condition called rosacea.
In a study published Sunday in the online edition of the journal Nature Medicine, scientists showed that people with rosacea have too much of a protein called cathelicidin that is processed incorrectly. The results could aid resea
rchers in designing an effective treatment for the disease, which affects 14 million people in the United States.
"We haven't had this kind of important finding in the study of rosacea for a long time," said dermatologist Jenny Kim of David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Rosacea is a skin disease that causes redness, visible blood vessels, bumps and pimples on the face. It tends to strike more women, usually between ages 30 and 60, but men often have more severe symptoms. "It's an appearance-related disease, so many people suffer from low self-esteem, and that can affect their everyday life," Kim said.
Options for treatment include light therapy to decrease rednes
s, avoiding known triggers such as spicy foods and heat, and prescribing antibiotics that don't work for every patient.
"Treatment could now be much more rationally designed," said Dr. Robert Gallo, chairman of dermatology at the University of California, San Diego, and senior author of the study.
About a dozen years ago, researchers in Gallo's lab discovered cathelicidin proteins, which help defend against infections in the skin. Gallo and his colleagues went on to find an association between the protein and skin conditions such as eczema. The team later found that cathelicidin could cause the redness that is the hallmark of rosacea, so they started searching for a link.
The researchers took skin biopsies from 11 people with rosacea and 10 healthy people who served as controls. What they found was "a double hit of things going abnormally," Gallo said.
All the rosacea patients had too much cathelicidin, most of which was abnormal. There also was an abundance of a molecule that processes cathelicidin from an inactive to an active form. The way cathelicidin is processed is crucial to determining whether the protein will act as a defense against infection or promote inflammation, according to the study. Experiments on mice confirmed the theory.
One of the most common treatments for rosacea is the antibiotic tetracycline. The study suggests that the drug is successful in rosacea patients because it inhibits cathelicidin processing, not because of its bacterial-killing properties. Future treatments might target the excessive production of cathelicidin's precursor, Gallo said.
On the Internet:
Nature Medicine: www.nature.com/naturemedicine
National Rosacea Society: www.rosacea.org
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