Rosacea and perioral dermatitis: a single-center retrospective analysis of the clinical presentation of 1032 patients

Background Rosacea is a common chronic inflammatory cutaneous disorder affecting nearly 5.5 % of the adult population. Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence and epidemiology of rosacea and perioral dermatitis (POD) in an ambulatory care setting. Methods We retrospectively analyzed medical data of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of rosacea or perioral dermatitis (POD) presenting at our university hospital outpatient clinic during a 3-year period. Results Out of 1032 patients, 81.5 % were diagnosed with rosacea and 18.5 % with POD. Overall prevalence was 1.4 % for rosacea and 0.3 % for POD. 69.3 % of the analyzed patients were female. Overall mean age was 49.3 +/- 7.7 (1-92) years; the women's average age was less than the men's. Patients with POD were younger and predominantly female, whereas patients with phymatous rosacea were older and predominantly male. The most common phenotypes were papulopustular rosacea (68.4 %), erythematotelangiectatic rosacea (22.5 %), and phymatous rosacea (8.0 %). Special forms of rosacea were diagnosed in 15.8 % of the patients; the most frequent were ocular rosacea (6.9 %) and steroid-induced rosacea (5.4 %). Conclusions The large patient cohort analyzed in our study provides a good estimate of the frequency of the rosacea subtypes, special forms and of perioral dermatitis in a hospital-based outpatient care setting.