Rosacea is a chronic skin condition of unknown cause that is characterised by episodes of facial flushing, redness, lesions and pustules; it most commonly affects adults with fair skin. Although not life-threatening, the effect of rosacea on patients' appearance adversely affects their quality of life. Patients with rosacea are likely to require long-term treatment; convenient, well-tolerated topical therapies with minimal systemic effects are, therefore, desirable. A study presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology [San Francisco, US; March 2003] has shown that a topical gel containing azelaic acid [AzA gel, `Finacea', `Skinoren'] is more effective than metronidazole, the current standard treatment for rosacea. The study demonstrated that treatment with azelaic acid 15% gel provided significantly greater mean reductions in inflammatory lesion counts and erythema severity, compared with metronidazole 0.75% gel. Furthermore, azelaic acid was shown to provide continuous improvements, whereas the effects of metronidazole reached a plateau after week 8. These results were confirmed by data from two vehicle-controlled phase III studies in which outcomes in azelaic acid recipients were similar to those from the comparative study ."The results showed that AzA gel is promising as a new therapy for patients with this type of moderate rosacea",said Dr Diane Thiboutot from Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, US.