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The Patient’s Guide™ to Rosacea is the most respected online publication providing information about facial redness & rosacea, its management and treatment, and its symptoms. Our mission is to provide you, our reader, with unbiased, scientifically accurate information about rosacea, its causes and symptoms, as well as potential treatments.
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Oral & Topical Medications

Oral Medications are a Part of Rosacea Treatment

  • Oral Medications are a Part of Rosacea Treatment
  • How Effective are Medications?
  • Topical Medications
  • Are Topical Solutions Safe?
  • Are Diflucan or Fluconazole Recommended?

    • Oral medicine is typically used as a part of the treatment of rosacea, in conjunction with laser therapy. Antibiotics are prescribed to treat rosacea and the most common are the tetracycline drugs, doxycycline, tetracycline and minocycline. These antibiotics have anti-inflammatory affects so they suppress the inflammation associated with rosacea, and it is thought that they may also affect the blood vessels associated with rosacea. Another benefit of prescribing antibiotics is that they are widely known to treat acne well, and as acne-like blemishes are a common symptom of rosacea, they kill two birds with one stone.

    How Effective are Medications?

    They are effective in conjunction with laser therapy. Antibiotics are effective, but in my opinion the mainstay treatment should be getting at the source of the problem with laser treatment.

    The source of the problem with rosacea, I believe, is the excess vascularity from being in the sun. The single and only way to make that go away is with laser therapy.

    Topical Medications

    One of the most common topical treatments for rosacea is metronidazole cream. The reason metronidazole was originally prescribed was that people with rosacea were found to have more demodex mites than those without rosacea. Metronidazole was supposed to treat this but it does not seem to work against the type of mites people with rosacea have in their skin. The paradox is that it seems to improve the condition anyway. This may work by a number of mechanisms including an anti-inflammatory agent.

    Are Topical Solutions Safe?

    The topical prescriptions given by a physician are safe and are typically used in conjunction with other treatments, such as laser therapy.

    Are Diflucan or Fluconazole Recommended?

    No, they are not recommended. Diflucan, in my opinion, is certainly not a first line treatment that I would use in my office for treating patients with rosacea. It can have toxicity and is not recommended.

    Fluconazole is an anti-fungal agent and there have been trials using it, but in my opinion its not a first line agent for rosacea and I do not use it in my practice to treat patients with rosacea.

     

    These Medications are Also Used with: Laser Rosacea Treatment, Choosing Your Doctor, Is there a Cure for Rosacea?

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    Oral medications are often a part of treating rosacea, as Dr. Bernstein explains here
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