# What is the medical condition causing: The Drunkards Red Nose?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 11, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352 "2003-12-11T13:58:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352/1 "2003-12-11T13:58:54Z")
Just wondering, over time I have heard and seen men and some women with a very vascular looking decidedly red nose. I’ve heard the slang, “thats a drunkards red nose”. Does anyone know what the condition is, and what exactly causes it?
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352/2 "2003-12-11T14:04:07Z")
[Rhinophyma](http://www.treatments-for-rosacea.com/html/types-of-rosacea.php3).
Most of the sites I’ve found seem to say that it is nothing to do with alcoholism. It’s a severe form of rosacea.
Heavy drinking can cause facial blood vessels to rupture though, so I would dispute that the conditions are entirely unrelated. It is probably fairer to say that excessive drinking can cause rosacea, but rosacea is not necessarily caused by alcohol.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352/3 "2003-12-11T14:07:27Z")
[Here](http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/top/001037.cfm) is a slightly more “scientific” site.
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### Author:  [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352/4 "2003-12-11T16:00:11Z")
Perhaps the ruptured facial vessels are helped along by falling and/or punches.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352/5 "2003-12-11T20:12:41Z")
Also known as “gin blossoms,” as mentioned here:
“Rosacea has been indelibly linked with the bulbous nose and “gin blossoms” of comedian and alcohol aficionado W. C. Fields, but the condition actually results from a disparate assortment of stimuli acting in concert on a genetically susceptible host.”
From [http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2002/12\_02/landow.htm](http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2002/12_02/landow.htm) , which probably has a lot more info than you want to know about the condition.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352/6 "2003-12-12T01:26:03Z")
Did Bill Clinton have this too?
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### Author:  [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352/7 "2003-12-12T02:17:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Gary T \*
> \*\*Also known as “gin blossoms,” \*\*
Ooh! That would make a great name for a rock band!
Oh.
Never mind.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352/8 "2003-12-12T12:17:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Markxxx \*
> \*\*Did Bill Clinton have this too? \*\*
No, you’re thinking of **[Ted Kennedy](http://www.american.edu/washingtonsemester/scanphoto1-%20Ted%20Kennedy.jpg)**.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-medical-condition-causing-the-drunkards-red-nose/218352/9 "2003-12-12T12:50:32Z")
One needn’t be a “drunkard.” One beer every few days is sufficient to keep some of my fairer-complected friends’ noses a consistent bright pink.