Couperose

Couperose is a chronic and progressive skin infection causing inflammation and redness to the face.

The cheeks and the nose are usually the first to take on a purpled colour, followed by the forehead and the chin.
Couperose can affect anyone between the age of 20 to 70 years, but adults between the age of 30 and 50 years with a clear colour and whose skin flushes easily are the most often affected.

Women are more prone to it than men but men are more inclined to develop a rhinophyma, a disorder that is characterized by a red nose, swollen and bumpy and which is secondary to untreated rosea acne. It is necessary to have a surgical correction.
About 15% of the population is affected.

Exemple de traitement de la couperose au laser :

Before treatment	After treatment

Couperose evolves in several stages :

Early Stage :
The face little by little takes on a red colour, as if it were affected by sunburn.
This redness is the result of an important flow of blood circulating rapidly through the skin vessels of the face, which widen in order to manage to adequately transport this contribution of blood.
About half of the patients affected with couperose have dry and red eyes. The irritation remains minor in the majority of cases.
In rare cases where the situation degenerates it is better to intervene rapidly in order that sight will not be affected.
Moreover, an inflammation of the eyelids is not excluded.

Intermediary Stage :
With time, the redness becomes more and more accentuated and persistent. The skin of the face also may become very dry.
The important circulation of the blood which takes place in the vessels of the face causes the dilation.
Eventually these are able to show through across the skin, notably, on the cheeks.
This formation of red lines, is names by the terminology telangiectasie, is able at first glance to be hidden by the redness that is brought about by the circulation of the blood below the skin, but it reappears usually visibly when the redness becomes less marked.
Some little solid red spots (papules) or full of pus (pustules) can appear on the skin. With certain patients the eyes inject themselves with blood.

Advanced Stage :
When the couperose is not treated, the sebaceous glands of the nose can increase in volume, thus forming some fleshy protuberances that make the nose appear larger. This state, called rhinophyma is much more common amongst men than women.

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