Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffThough there's no way to eliminate rosacea altogether, effective treatment can relieve its signs and symptoms. Most often this requires a combination of prescription treatments and certain lifestyle changes on your part.
Your doctor also may recommend certain moisturizers, soaps, sunscreens and other products to improve the health of your skin. If hot flashes appear to trigger your rosacea, you might ask your doctor what treatment options are available for the signs and symptoms of menopause.
Medications
You may need a combination of prescription-strength topical medication (lotion, cream or gel) and oral medication (pill, capsule or tablet) to treat rosacea.
- Topical medications. Medications you apply to your skin once or twice daily may help reduce inflammation and redness. They may also be used along with oral medications or as part of a maintenance program to control symptoms. Common topical medications include antibiotics (metronidazole), tretinoin, benzoyl peroxide and azelaic acid.
- Oral antibiotics. Doctors may prescribe oral antibiotics to treat rosacea, more for their anti-inflammatory properties than to kill bacteria. Oral antibiotics are also prescribed because they tend to work faster than topical ones. Common prescription oral antibiotics include tetracycline, minocycline and erythromycin.
- Isotretinoin (Accutane). Isotretinoin is a powerful oral medication sometimes used for severe cases of inflammatory rosacea if other treatment options fail to improve symptoms. Usually prescribed for cystic acne, isotretinoin works to inhibit the production of oil by sebaceous glands. People who take it need close monitoring by a dermatologist because of the possibility of serious side effects.
Your doctor may treat ocular rosacea with oral antibiotics or steroid eyedrops.
The duration of your treatment depends on the type and severity of your symptoms, but typically you'll notice an improvement within one to two months. Because symptoms may recur if you stop taking medications, long-term regular treatment is often necessary.
Surgical
Enlarged blood vessels, some redness and changes due to rhinophyma often become permanent. In these cases, surgical methods, such as laser surgery and electrosurgery, may reduce the visibility of blood vessels, remove tissue buildup around your nose and generally improve your appearance.
- Questions and answers about rosacea. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Rosacea/rosacea_ff.pdf. Accessed Sept. 11, 2008.
- Rosacea. American Academy of Dermatology. http://www.aad.org/public/Publications/pamphlets/Rosacea.htm. Accessed Sept. 11, 2008.
- van Zuuren EJ, et al. Systematic review of rosacea treatments. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 2007;56:107.
- Goldstein BG, et al. Rosacea. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 11, 2008.
- Habif, TP. Acne, rosacea, and related disorders. In: Clinical Dermatology: A Color Guide to Diagnosis and Therapy. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby, Inc; 2004. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/104473933-3/746280137/1195/43.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-01319-8..50009-1_567. Accessed Sept. 11, 2008.
- Colloidal silver. National Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Sept. 22, 2008.
- Emu oil. National Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Sept. 22, 2008.
- Laurelwood. National Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Sept. 22, 2008.
- Oregano. National Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Sept. 22, 2008.
- Vitamin K. National Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Sept. 22, 2008.
