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IT AFFECTS UP to one in ten people in Ireland, but not everyone will have heard of it: Rosacea.
The HSE describes it as “a common but poorly understood chronic skin condition”. People with rosacea may experience spots and persistent redness of their skin.
Small blood vessels in the sufferer’s skin can become visible. In the most severe cases, the skin can thicken and enlarge, usually on and around the nose.
It predominantly affects fair-skinned people and is twice as common in women, but tends to be more severe in men.
The symptoms – which can be triggered by stress, sunlight or certain foods or alcohol – usually begin between the ages of 30 and 50 years, but it does affect younger people.
There is no cure for rosacea, but treatments are available to control the symptoms, some of which are reimbursed by the HSE.
Professor Martin Steinhoff, Director of UCD’s Charles Institute of Dermatology, said the negative impact of rosacea “should not be underestimated”.
If the condition is not managed appropriately it can have a severe impact on a person’s quality of life, and unfortunately people can be judged negatively as a result of its visible nature.
Steinhoff told TheJournal.ie many of his patients have had embarrassing encounters because of rosacea.
He said job interviews can be a particularly stressful situation as the person may give the impression they are not telling the truth.
“If the person is going red sometimes the interviewer thinks they are lying because flushing is associated with lying.”
Avoiding social interaction
Steinhoff said some people’s sex life is also adversely affected as they avoid social situations and meeting new people.
“Many patients have stopped socialising because they don’t feel like they are attractive,” he noted.
Eoin Kennedy (37) knows this scenario all too well.
“If I start off with a flush in the morning, I’ll sit at my desk for the entire day. I won’t mingle with people. I’ll cancel events … It does look as though I’m angry or like I’m going to have a heart attack.”
Eoin gave up gaelic football in favour of golf – so he doesn’t have “to mix with anybody”.
My whole face gets very red, not just a certain area. I’ve seen people staring at me when that happens. For no reason, when I walk down a corridor I light up like a Christmas tree … It’s one of those embarrassing conditions because it’s on my face, directly in front of people.
Eoin said people often assume he’s hot-tempered or has been drinking, because of the way he looks.
Bullying
Eoin had his first bout of roascea when he was 16 years old. He said the bullying he experienced as a result has had a huge impact on his life.
He recalled how “everyone had acne” in school but his condition was much worse, leading to him being picked on.
“People would kind of look strangely at me or not talk to me in school because of it,” he recalled.
“I didn’t get help at the time, I thought it was just part of acne … for me it was just part of being a teenager.”
The condition “came back quite strongly” when he was about 22 years old. At the time, he had just started his first job in IT and said some of his colleagues slagged him because of his rosacea, while others ignored him.
I had just started working, I didn’t want people to think I was somehow deformed … It was very difficult.
Eoin was initially diagnosed as having dermatitis before a specialist realised what the real problem was.
“Literally as soon as he saw me he said: ‘That’s rosacea.’”
He said a course of steroids “improved things but it never cleared up”. He used make-up to help cover up the redness but said this made him uncomfortable.
Eoin’s father has psoriasis but no other skin conditions run in his family.
Overcoming depression
About a year and a half ago, Eoin began taking anti-depressants – largely due to unresolved issues caused by the bullying he endured.
The anti-depressants are calming me down, I don’t have the same reaction.
Eoin has also cut down on alcohol and tries to go outside as often as he can.
He said it was very difficult to meet someone because he rarely socialised, and met his girlfriend at a dungeon-themed party where the lights were very low
“We couldn’t really see each other and I was comfortable with that.”
Eoin said because she intially got to know him without noticing his rosacea it was easier for her to realise “it’s just a skin condition, as opposed to me”.
More information on the treatment reimbursed by the HSE can be viewed here, while an app for sufferers of rosacea is available for Android here or Apple here.
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If I hear anyone else say “life style choice” in relation to social welfare, I swear to God I wont be responsible!!!
The other thing that I m tired of hearing is “we need to reduce social welfare to motivate people to go back to work” Our TDs receive over €2500 pay per week, plus expenses, free transport etc and they are spending their time on how to cut child welfare by €10 and the dole by €8. Those who profit most from Irelands wealth are mostly tax exiles and pay nothing at all …is something wrong here?? Should we not be “motivating” those who earn €1 million plus to be paying their fair share?
I “live” on Social Welfare. Yes you could say it is a “lifestyle choice”. I have cardiac artery disease, diabetes and arthritis, and am on Disability Allowance. I get the same amount to exist on as someone trying to find a job. It is not a lot. In fact it is not enough. Do our T.D.s know or care? I think not. Would they do anything if they did know?
NO! Because they are not concerned about how ordinary people get by.
Oh Sugar !!
this country has thee most disconected politicians in relation to real life and how we cope and live with the decisions they make.
living on social welfare is a great lifestyle choice, i do it all the time :-P
It is an absolute disgrace what happened to Fr Kevin Reynolds and I am happy for him that his name was cleared. Why the hell won’t Dev jnr respect this mans wishes and those of Fr. Reynolds legal team?
Before cutting social welfare for single mothers, can we please first have a National plan to provide community childcare to every family? Community Childcare workers do a great job but when they have to be closed during school holidays, what’s the point?
Believe it or not, not every child in this country has a granny who can take over during school holidays.
Am I the only person who thinks the defamation by autocomplete thing is stupid? It would be like punishing a news reporter for reporting the news. It happened and people were looking up the recievership online to find out information about it so google took a popular term being used and suggested it as a search item. Google simpley did what it’s supposed to do, help people find information online in a quick manner by streamlining what is relevent to what people wanted at that time.
If the term “receivership” is now considered pejorative then google in Ireland had better beware, as the number of businesses in that situation is more likely to grow than shrink.
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