Lena Dunham Is Seriously Bummed She Suddenly Has Rosacea at 31. Here's Why That Happens

Lena Dunham Is Seriously Bummed She Suddenly Has Rosacea at 31. Here's Why That Happens

lena Dunham has never cared much what other people say or write about her body, her weight, or her looks. But this week, the actress revealed that she’s dealing with a new issue that actually made her extremely self-conscious and upset: At age 31, she suddenly developed rosacea.

“[A] few weeks ago, a course of steroids to treat a massive flare of joint pain and instability led to rosacea’s appearing overnight,” Dunham wrote Tuesday on Lenny Letter, “making me look like a scary Victorian doll, two perfect pink circles painted on her porcelain face.” (Along with endometriosis, the actress has an autoimmune disease that causes chronic pain and fatigue, she explained.)

Then, after wearing makeup for a long and sweaty shoot, Dunham wrote that she washed her face “to reveal that the rosacea had become hundreds of tiny pimple-blisters that covered me from forehead to neck.” She described feeling a mixture of terror, rage, and sadness at that moment, and wrote that “my face burned, but not as badly as my pride.”

Dunham’s right: A skin condition like rosacea—which causes unusual flushing and sometimes pimple-like bumps to appear on the cheeks or other areas of the face—can be seriously embarrassing. But she should take some comfort in knowing that she’s not alone: According to government estimates, about 14 million people in the United States have rosacea.

But what exactly is rosacea—and is it common to develop it in adulthood, after years of clear, glowing skin? To learn more, Health spoke with Temitayo Ogunleye, MD, assistant professor of dermatology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Here’s what she had to say.