rosacea

[jellybean]

Hi all - I saw an eye doctor about a month ago and he told me I have MGD (already knew that) and rosacea. I almost fell off my chair in surprise. He said this after looking at me and saying I looked a little pink in my cheeks. (He didn't ask me any questions before he gave me this diagnosis, like "do you notice these symptoms..." etc.) I said maybe I'm a little pink because I'm warm. And he said I have thick skin. I have large pores and blackheads so my skin is not baby-smooth, but it doesn't look thick. He pointed to his 20-yr old assistant with perfect smooth skin and said her skin is an example of non-rosacea healthy skin. He said he sees rosacea 20 times a day. He said you'll see flare ups from eating certain foods. I said I don't have any flare ups or notice anything from foods.

This diagnosis makes absolutely no sense to me. I know he's a respected dry eye doctor but I have none of the symptoms. I mean, no I'm not pasty white, I do have some very very slight natural color in my face, and my skin looks good (aside from blackheads). I read up on rosacea extensively and I didn't see any match whatsoever in any symptoms - I have no patchy redness, no flushing, no acne/red bumps, etc. In fact some of what I read specifically said that rosacea does not include blackheads.

I saw a dermatologist shortly afterwards and she said I don't have rosacea. Then I talked with a friend of mine who has rosacea and she does have skin that gets patchy redness and acne problems and flare ups from food & sun... she looked at me and couldn't see anything that looked like rosacea.

So.... I feel pretty sure I don't have it but want to make sure I'm not missing anything. I know you guys can't see my skin and offer judgments that way, but does this make any sense to anyone? Anyone with rosacea have any comments?

I feel like just because I have MGD and a slight healthy glow the doctor gave me this diagnosis. If he said he sees it all the time I am wondering if he's over-diagnosing it.

Thanks for your feedback.

[Rebecca Petris]

I don't see any reason to dismiss your doctor's comments. He's not trying to treat your skin, just your eyes. Bear in mind, you're really talking about two conditions:

1) Cutaneous rosacea. The dermatologist is going to have the most knowledge about this.

2) Ocular rosacea. The ophthalmologist is going to have the most knowledge about this.

According to emedicine.com, "...ocular signs and symptoms may occur prior to cutaneous manifestations in 20% of patients with rosacea. No correlation exists between the severity of ocular disease and the severity of facial rosacea."

[stella]

I am adding this info to a thread on rosacea as i dont want to start a new thread

I watch the programme "the Doctors " - a spin off from Dr Phil-the popular psychologist on US tv

I was interested to hear that the doctors recommended that patients with rosacea should avoid the following foods --
Brie cheese
chocolate
aubergenes
soy sauce
milk
Also it was suggested flare-ups could be avoided by taking a paediatric dose every day of aspirin - I suppose 75 mgs is a paediatric dose

Just thought i would pass this on

[sazy123]

I did not used to have any obvious rosacea either, but bad dry eye, which i know is now ocular rosacea, last few years facial rosacea has become more ovbious although its still mild.

[magoo]

I have rosacea and a few weeks ago my physician had me start taking Niaspan (a timed-release niacin). It can cause flushing and he told me to take an aspirin one-half hour before taking the Niaspan. I flush very easily and was worried this medication would cause flare ups of my rosacea, but I have had absolutely no flushing. So aspirin really does work to quell flushing.

It had made me wonder if aspirin would be a good thing for rosacea in general so this post is very interesting to me.

Their are many foods on the rosacea-aggravating lists. I find that even the smell of dill will make me flush horribly. I think it may be an individual thing, what causes it being different for everyone.

[Shell]

Hi there

Just to let you know that I was told that ocular rosacea can precede facial rosacea at times. In addition, you can have mild facial rosacea with severe ocular rosacea and vice versa... There are no hard and fast rules. It's possible you have a very mild case of facial rosacea with a more severe ocular form.

[stephgurl1986]

I don't have any (!) facial rosacea and still Dr. Latkany told me I had ocular rosacea...but I have no idea what to do against it.... :-(

[redandsensitive]

All I know is:

Warm compresses
Tetracyline (antibiotics)

There is nothing more to do after what I understand. I have chronic red eyes becouse of this ****

[sandra lee]

ocular rosacea

Has anyone had any results using Hyland's Clear AC for ocular rosacea.Also does anyone know of a support group in Northern New York state?Thanks

[littlemermaid]

Ocular rosacea in child

Has anyone found a friendly UK dermatologist for ocular rosacea? As Rebecca says, virtually no skin symptoms initially but big MGD problems being treated by ophth. Poor thing now developing marked rosacea nose and cheeks, plus sensitised to tetracyclines. What do you use to wash your face and hair?

[Guest]

I use Cetaphil Skin Cleanser for my face....It doesn't make my skin burn like regular soap did... not sure if it's available in the UK tho...

[eva b]

Has anyone found a friendly UK dermatologist for ocular rosacea? As Rebecca says, virtually no skin symptoms initially but big MGD problems being treated by ophth. Poor thing now developing marked rosacea nose and cheeks, plus sensitised to tetracyclines. What do you use to wash your face and hair?

Hi Jane,

hope you got my reply to your PM. Sounds as if your poor little daughter is becoming hypersensitised to everything (like me) so you have to watch out for anything she uses on her body.

I use an unscented shampoo and conditioner brand name A'kin, which is wheat free, you could also use the shampoo as a skin wash I guess. Not sure if they make a skin wash.

For soap, I use again an unscented seaweed soap by a company called faith in nature.

And I use Ecover original unscented washing powder - not the liquid, which is scented, or any fabric conditioner.

The problem is that nearly all natural products use some kind of essential oil or other for their perfume or therapeutic effects, and while this is fine for some people, if you have eye inflammation you need to avoid perfumes - even natural ones like essential oils. (and I'm a qualified aromatherpist, so I don't say this lightly!)

Also, look at the cleaning products you use in your home, air fresheners etc. You really need to become a bit of a "read the label" freak, I'm afraid.

If you have trouble getting the shampoo, there's a company called Essentials London (try googling as I don't remember the address offhand) that do mail order. They probably also do some of the other stuff as well.

Good luck!

[littlemermaid]

Rosacea treatments

For info., littlemermaid's ophth is indicating we need to tackle acne rosacea maintenance, without which there would be no eye problem. We are finding useful experience on non-aggressive skin products and nutriceuticals on ocular rosacea threads on http://rosacea-support.org/community - Australians are good at this stuff!