Can rosacea or other skin diseases hinder beard growth?

Can rosacea or other skin diseases affect beard growth on the face?

Dr. Irwin
August 18, 2016
Hi Dr, I just had this question for a very long time and I'm very curious about it. I hope you can answer me. I'm 17 years old. I'm going to be 18 in January. I have a light rosacea on both of my cheeks and I realized that my beard is only growing around my cheek and just a few weeks ago a couple of hairs grew on my rosacea cheek on the right side where as the left side nothing. basically I have a neck beard. The main thing that made me sure that rosacea might be the factor affecting my beard growth is that I have a right side burn connected with my beard where as in my left cheek I only have the side burn which comes down from my hair and does not connect to my beard because there's a little rosacea under my side burn. I once grew my beard for 4 months and when it grew I saw villus hairs on both my cheeks like an actual beard outline and the hairs where very clear under the light but they did not show normally; but now I shaved and under the light I can still see the villus baby hairs. My question is they're not growing to normal hairs they're just there invisible normally but under bright light I can see them well. Don't want to make it any longer than this. My question is do I have a chance of growing a beard on my cheeks that has rosacea?

Generally rosacea does not cause problems with hair growth on the face, unless it’s the rare cystic form (large, red, deep pus filled) which could scar the hair follicle (the root  the hair grows from).    More on rosacea here.

I think you should really see your doctor. There are other skin diseases, for example alopecia areata, that can affect beard growth as can hormones.  There are some men who really do not grow a full beard until their 20s!

Hope this helps,  Dr. I

Dr. Brandith Irwin, MD

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Hi, I’m Dr. Irwin. I believe that consumers deserve a medically trained and unbiased skin care advocate.

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