A papilla is a small nipple-shaped projection that extend from collagen fibers, the capillary blood vessels, and sometimes the nerves of the dermis (pleural is papillae). Papillary would be of or pertaining to a papilla. (Defintion per standard medical dictionary). Papillar would not be a word to my knowledge.

You could listen to see if the doctor said papillary lesions in the first instance since rosacea does involve telangiectases (broken blood vessels) on the surface of the skin and acne-like nodules. Sometimes checking the definition of the condition about which you are transcribing gives you hints. You can find an explanation of rosacea in your medical dictionary.

It's hard to know what the doctor meant to say if he is contradicting himself in the next sentence, but papular lesions would be correct. You could flag this for inconsistency, though.

Patty

[This message has been edited by pattyB (edited 02-10-2000).]

Chronic vascular and follicular dilation involving the nose and contiguous portions of the cheeks; may vary from mild but persistent erythema to extensive hyperplasia of the sebaceous glands, seen especially in men as rhinophyma and by deep-seated papules and pustules; accompanied by telangiectasia at the affected erythematous sites. Syn: acne erythematosa, acne rosacea.

papule (papular adj.)
A small, circumscribed, solid elevation on the skin. Syn: papula.
Origin
[L. papula, pimple]

papilla, pl. papillae
[NA]. Any small nipple-like process.
Origin
[L. a nipple, dim. of papula, a pimple]

It would seem that the root word is the same, papilla denoting small.

I would go with papular and papules, as that's how the lesions are described in rosacea.

There are papular lesions, but they are not that distinct or so deep seated in this case?

I thought it should be papular, too, but started to second guess and wanted to be sure. When I went to google, "papillar lesions" were listed numerous times even though my dictionary doesn't have "papillar" as a word. Hence, my confusion! Nutter