Eyes, Rosacea and Demodex

[Yorkshireguy25]

I'm still on my journey to finding what will cure my itchy, burning eyes and so far I think I have ruled out a lack of tear production as eye drops seem to offer no help. I do however think that there is some MGD going on and that it is an evaporative issue. I'm also wondering that I may have rosacea as a warm shower for a minute on my face makes my face flush and become very itchy yet the rest of me is fine, I am also easily flushed when exercising. I also get a red nose easily and have blood vessels close to the surface on my face. As well I think my body hyper produces oil as I have blackheads all over my back, and face but my skin is dry. Hence I now am considering that the bits in my eyelashes are demodex and they are only really on my upper lashes. This would be consistent with the MGD and Rosacea and makes sense why the normal MGD treatment isn't really working.

Anybody here treat demodex and what do you do?
I'm from the UK so any treatments available in our shops would be extra helpful.

[eyes78]

I have read that a 50% concentration of tea tree oil kills demodex. I don't know if this is available commercially or if you would have to make it yourself by mixing tea tree with a carrier oil. Maybe try looking up the exact method, such as how much/often/etc to use.

[Yorkshireguy25]

Interesting, thanks I'll have a read up on that.

[littlemermaid]

For a teenager with rosacea rash which developed round the mouth, nose, eyes age 11y (started with very few skin signs, bad eyes), our Ophthalmologist suggested an eyelid margin cleaner of tea tree shampoo diluted 1:50 with warm water. We use it for 4wk, then weekends only, take a break of over 1m (best to look at the demodex lifecycle). She says she knows when bugs move back in (presumably not just demodex) and she needs to restart it because her eyebrows and eyelashes start to fall out. We also do well with various mild tea tree and antibacterial facewashes and moisturisers (currently Body Shop and Simple range). What I really want junior to do is use tea tree moisturiser at night but she finds it makes teen acne worse and increases her sensitivity to TTO.

The problem as always with rosacea hypersensitivity is keeping things good without causing flareups and sensitivities, and tea tree oil is toxic in concentration. Sometimes skin and bathroom products cause rosacea sensitivity in the first place. So one Dermatologist suggested with eg prescription antibacterials and moisturisers that we rotate 3, in blocks of treatment time obviously.

David Pascoe's rosacea-support.org is very good http://rosacea-support.org/more-demo...liarities.html with the link http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....-on-your-face/. Once we get over it, we realise this is all part of the rich human microbiome but may go into overgrowth, like other bugs might. PubMed search 'ocular rosacea' and Medscape are useful.

I'm sure there's a gut sensitivity relationship because we do get worse eyes and skin flareups on wheat, sugars and bad fats. There is definitely a problem with UV light and she uses sunblock. Rashes and redness are very interesting - they are often symptoms of whole body immunology or nutritional deficiency disorders, as well as topical reactions. For example it is possible to show a food intolerance anywhere down the digestive tract from lips to colon. It looks like our rosacea was triggered by using hydrocortisone 0.05% prescribed on the face 28 days, PubMed 'child steroid rosacea'. Some lucky people have resolved after discovering nutritional deficiencies like vit D3 or iron, but I think it's very useful to consider how a vet treats demodex mange ie with vitamin C and zinc supplements as well as topicals, and although it's transferable between animals, it also gets a grip when there are other issues or nutrition problems.

We do warm compress to keep the eyelid glands moving, but if there is inflammation we do cold and use eyedrops from the fridge. Doing both as needed makes sense with 'rosacea' inflammation. Sometimes we need frequent lubricant eyedrops (tried different types, currently Hyloforte and occasionally saline), sometimes if things are good we do great without for a while. The main focus has been keeping the eye surface moist, one way or another, including humidifiers, drying towels on the radiator, sleep masks, sunglasses.

We did get Cliradex mail order from the US website but she can't tolerate it yet - the Paediatric Ophthalmologist is very careful for children and vetoed it. Some people here are doing well on it and Ocusoft - here's sales/science chat including the burning problem Optometry Times, Dr. Scott Schachter. He is particularly good to mention hot-washing and ironing bedding and towels scrupulously to avoid reinfection.

If you're UK and really freaked out, maybe speak to Sarah Farrant http://earlamandchristopher.co.uk/dr...and-sore-eyes/ if no one appears in Google 'optometrist demodex' near home (we haven't seen her but maybe someone has). When I spoke to them 2y ago, Moorfields were adamant non-believers, even for p&p rosacea, but opinions can change.

Hope something there might help. Have you tried a 'clean' diet and fish/flaxseed oil supplements, Yorkshireguy? A good gentle skin regime is the holy grail of acne and rosacea.

[grant555]

try cliradex on amazon (or other websites). its expensive but a good product made of tea tree oil.

[Eyewarmers]

It is probably Demodex Blepharitis. A slit lamp exam with your eye doctor would reveal cylindrical dandruff on your lashes. The next step towards confirmation would be removal of a few lashes to be analyzed under a microscope. A microscope will show the actual mites very clearly. Cliradex could be an excellent option if you have a confirmed case of Demodex Blepharitis. If you have never seen a demodex under high magnification check them out on google images if you want to experience a creepy crawly feeling for Halloween

[littlemermaid]

Eyewarmers, you are obviously here to sell, not a sufferer, but are you a qualified doctor or optometrist? If you are, best to consider other possible diagnoses and read the history from past posts so as not to do professional harm.

[Rebecca Petris]

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