if you have ocular rosacea or even just regular rosacea
this video is for you. Rosacea can seriously affect the eyelids which can lead to itchiness,
redness, tearing of the eyes, light sensitivity and even blurred vision.
it also frequently gets misdiagnosed as dry eye disease. so i dug into the research to
find the best ocular rosacea treatment and here's what i found. let's take a look.
hello and welcome this is dr joseph allen here from the dr eye health show if you like learning
about the eyes and seeing your best then hit that subscribe button so you don't miss any
of our future videos otherwise let's dive into the tips. tip number one for ocular rosacea treatment,
is that of avoiding your triggers. i know this one sounds too simple but remember that an ounce
of prevention is equal to a pound of treatment. but people with all forms of rosacea are known to
have certain triggers, which can cause flare-ups of their signs and symptoms a list of possible
triggers for rosacea include things such as spicy foods uv light exposure dairy products alcohol
exercise and emotional stress can also play a role but hot beverages and just heat in general
can be a trigger and then of course medications and even higher doses of vitamin b6 and b12 have
been reported for being triggers. Now of course everybody may experience different flare-ups and
triggers so you may have to experiment around figure out what yours are but let us know in
the comments some of your rosacea triggers and if you found any way to help you avoid
it. that way you can help out somebody else who may be facing the same issue. tip number two is
to manage any blepharitis. by blepharitis i mean any buildup of microorganisms bad skin oils and
inflammation of the eyelids for this daily warm compresses on the eyelids have been historically
recommended and also doing daily or weekly eyelid scrubs with some sort of a foaming cleanser that
has tea tree oil in it. warm compresses can be very good for treating the oil glands of the
eyelid and getting the oil glands to produce better oils but however if heat happens to be
one of your triggers like we just mentioned then perhaps it could actually be making things worse
it definitely depends on a case-by-case basis but if you've done warm compresses and think it makes
things worse definitely talk to your doctor if they think you should keep doing them. and eyelid
scrubs with tea tree oil are recommended because tea tree oil has been found to be really good at
getting rid of demodex mites. a microscopic dust mite that loves to live and burrow into the hair
follicles of your eyelashes and has been found to be a major problem for people with rosacea.
Tip number three is that of omega-3s. now the value of omega-3 supplements in the treatment of
both dry eye and ocular surface disease are highly debated in eye care but a randomized double mask
study from 2013 did show that patients taking 1.5 grams of omega-3 supplements did show significant
improvement in their meibomian gland dysfunction after both one month and three months. however do
note that the supplement used in this study did also contain other vitamins and minerals. links
to this study and all references in the video description below. tip number four control the
inflammation. inflammation plays a huge role in dry eyes and all forms of ocular surface disease
including rosacea and ocular rosacea two great options that are frequently prescribed by eye
doctors are that of topical steroids as well as topical cyclosporine topical steroids and creams
are great for flare-ups but cyclosporine also has shown some promise in the research and happens to
be safer long term but i think both options are great to talk to your doctor about. tip number
five is to ask your doctor about possible oral medications which may help oral medications such
as doxycycline minocycline and azithromycin have all shown promise in the research for treating
rosacea, even in select studies specifically looking at ocular rosacea. these medications work
by inhibiting matrix metalloproteinases as well as catholocidin, a polypeptide which has been found
to be significant with rosacea. these medications can reduce the buildup of bacteria flora on the
surface of the eyelids and also can reduce lipase enzymes which affects the oil quality
of the meibomian glands and medications such as doxycycline can inhibit matrix mattaloproteinases
which can play a role in preventing corneal thinning which can occur on the eye in really
severe cases of rosacea and ocular rosacea. tip number six for ocular rosacea treatment is to
consider an ipl procedure. IPL stands for intense pulsed light and is a procedure where light is
pulsed onto the eyelids which causes a coagulation of the irregular blood vessels that grow there
which causes a reduction of inflammation and even causes liquefaction of the thickened oils of the
oil gland and helps those oil glands open up this helps stabilize the tear film and is not only just
a great option for ocular rosacea but also as a dry eye treatment as well however an ipl procedure
may not be offered at every eye clinic and is also limited by the expense of the procedure but ipl is
an amazing treatment if you want to learn more especially from my personal experience having
the procedure done then check out our video specifically on ipl i'll put up here in the
youtube card as well as in the description below. and tip number seven is to ask your doctor about
using bromonidine eye drops. while bromonidine eye drops have not been specifically studied for
Ocular Rosacea at this time, Bromonidine gels and ointments have been used as a treatment
for regular rosacea and i have many patients who find it very beneficial especially when they're
having a flare-up of the redness of their eyelids however this would be off-label and i think it's
really important to ask your doctor if this is something you should be using. also a pro tip
is not to use Lumify or other over-the-counter get the red out eye drops before seeing your
eye doctor because otherwise it's just going to make your eyes look whiter and it'll mask
the signs and symptoms that your doctor's gonna be looking for to make a proper diagnosis hey if
you found any of these tips helpful please smash that like button for me and share this video with
anybody you think it may help otherwise as always definitely talk to your local eye doctor about
getting a proper diagnosis and proper treatment and what they think is gonna be best for you
also in the case of rosacea i think it's best to be co-managed not just with an eye doctor but
also with a dermatologist or a local family doctor because a lot of the treatments and
medications are just things that both providers should be discussing about otherwise again
this is dr allen here from the doctor isle show keep an eye on it we'll see you soon