It is not hard to imagine that the skin condition labeled “rosacea” is is at the top of the list for incorrectly spelled skin afflictions in the field of medicine.  It is incorrectly called rosacia, rosecea, roseacea, roscea and a few other mis-spelled names, but the correct spelling of this socially disruptive skin affliction is r-o-s-a-c-e-a.

It is not uncommon to hear this skin disease called “acne” rosacea due to its symptoms (i.e. pimples, pustules, whiteheads) closely resembling the universal skin disorder called Acne Vulgaris, which literally means ‘common acne.’  But the fact is that rosacae is a unique and different skin affliction .  This skin condition most commonly attacks the skin on the face and is characterized by times of skin aggravation followed by a period of remission.  A primary difference from acne is that rosacea generally commences after the age of 30 and can become visible on men and women well into their middle to late forties.  

Most Common Mis-Spellings of The Term Rosacea

It is a fact that an amazing 10% of the searches performed on Google by people looking for additional facts regarding Rosacea are misspelled versions of the correct medical nomenclature.  Compiling a list of the highest incident mis-spellings, the search engines have reported the following terms being entered:  roseca, rosacae, rosacia, rosecea. 

These bad spellings are not the exception.  In fact, they are entered into the largest search engine between 33 (rosacae) and 325 (rosacia) times each day on average.   Even as you might expect that Google and MSN don’t encourage misspellings, numerous pages can be located using these misspelled phrases in an effort to help the individuals with rosacea who just can’t get the spelling quite right.

Dealing With Rosacea

Despite how you try to spell out “Rosacea”, the effects of the skin condition are relatively consistent.  Even though each individual afflicted with this skin disorder can have varying symptoms and various degrees of severity, the disorder can usually be diagnosed easily by a licensed dermatologist.  The leading symptoms can be identified as a reddening of the cheeks, chin, nose or forehead.  These symptoms are slightly different from person to person and will go into remission after a flare-up .  

Unfortunately, there is no medical cure for this skin disease.  However, with appropriate treatment and changes in lifestyle, it can be dealt with effectively.   Whether we take the liberties of spelling this skin disorder rosecea, roscea, or roseaca, the symptoms and emotional and social challenges will be the same.