Rosacea fulminans is a serious skin issue, often linked to stress hormones. It mostly affects women in their 20s to 30s, causing large, painful red spots on the middle of the forehead, cheeks, and chin. Look at the picture below—the redness is concentrated in the center of the face, leaving the cheeks clear. Surprisingly, this condition can happen to women who never had acne before, especially after a really stressful time. That’s a tough situation!
What may seem like severe acne is actually an intense form of rosacea—rosacea fulminans.
This problem usually starts after a lot of emotional stress and is preceded by a time when the skin becomes very oily (like needing to wash your hair twice a day). It happens to specific women with an enzyme deficiency, causing the adrenal glands to produce too much testosterone instead of hydrocortisone.
Doctors can find this issue by checking blood samples. There’s a medicine called dexamethasone that can help by slowing down testosterone production and reversing the condition. However, some people are hesitant to take it because it’s a corticosteroid.
In our case, we helped a client with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory serums and benzoyl peroxide. During the day, she used a special cream called A02 that kills bacteria using oxygen. Using the right products can really make a difference in controlling this severe type of rosacea.