Rosacea and personality.

Sir, Rosacea is a common facial disease (1). Research on possible psychosomatic causes of the origin of rosacea is relatively scant and in general fairly old. Guilt and shame, mostly concerning sexual problems and social anxiety, were previously thought to play a considerable part in the aetiology of rosacea, and it was asserted that patients with rosacea had homosexual fantasies and signs of paranoia (2, 3). Suggestions have been made that rosacea patients show signs of immaturity, strongly inhibited affective responses, shyness, lack of selfconfidence and feelings of inadequacy (4). In comparison with patients with alopecia areata and lichen planus, rosacea patients have a greater tendency to neurotic disorders, self-aggression, self-criticism and a greater discrepancy between desires and capabilities. Higher states of permanent anxiety were also noted compared to the other groups of skin disease patients; in many cases traumatic situations preceded the outbreak of rosacea (5 – 7). Other authors assert that no satisfactory single cause for the onset of rosacea has been found (8) and that there is no consensus regarding the role that personality factors play in rosacea (9). The aim of our study was to investigate how rosacea patients handle and react to aggression and personal detachment, and whether they exhibited differences in those respects when compared to psoriatic patients and to healthy controls.