The authors report a case of a 68-year-old Caucasian female with type 2 diabetes mellitus who experienced an acute exacerbation of her rosacea 2 weeks after self-initiating cinnamon oil pills to lower her blood sugar levels.

Historically, cinnamon oil has been used for a variety of medicinal purposes, but recently the use of cinnamon oil in lowering blood glucose and cholesterol levels in patients with type 2 diabetes is being investigated and gaining popularity amongst the general population.

The use of cinnamon has commonly produced cutaneous side effects of irritant or allergic contact dermatitis and been reported to have vasodilatory effects.

Yet, there are no reports of cinnamon use triggering a rosacea exacerbation in the literature.

J Drugs Dermatol. 2008 Jun;7(6):586-7. Campbell TM, Neems R, Moore J.

Familial Rosacea Association

Of those who said they had a relative with rosacea, most indicated it was an immediate family member. Thirty percent reported their mother has or had rosacea, while 35% indicated their father, 28% cited a sister and 24% named a brother. In some cases more than one family member was indicated.

National Ancestry Association

In addition to family history, the survey found that national ancestry also may be an indication of relative risk for rosacea. Thirty-one percent of the respondents reported they had at least one parent of Irish ancestry, although only 11% of the United States population is of Irish heritage, according to the 2000 U.S. Census figures.

It was determined that those of German and English heritage seem to be highly prone to rosacea as well. Forty-one percent of patients responding to the survey reported they had some German ancestry, compared to 15% of the U.S. population, and more than 30% reported English ancestry, versus 9% reporting English ancestry in the national census.

Other nationalities in which rosacea was present at a higher rate than the ethnicity is represented in the U.S. population include Scandinavian, Scottish, French, Polish, Russian, Lithuanian, Hungarian and Czech.