Healing Rosacea

Reported March 2007

YARDLEY, Pa. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Kathy Olivierio has been covering up and hiding a skin condition called rosacea for almost 20 years. "Rosacea is like this monster that's in you and has to get out," she says.

Fourteen million Americans suffer from the skin condition. When rosacea flares up, skin becomes inflamed. It's painful, causing redness and bumps to the face and embarrassment to the person it affects.

"Rosacea is in your face and on your face, reminding you every day of what's going on in your skin," dermatologist Richard Fried, M.D., Ph.D., of Yardley Dermatology and Yardley Skin Enhancement and Wellness Center in Pa., tells Ivanhoe.

After years of trying to find something that works the first FDA-approved pill to treat rosacea, called Oracea, may help heal rosacea in just a matter of weeks.

Dr. Fried says, "It tells us that the big, bad thing that we've been chasing is not a bug, not a fungus, but inflammation."

Rosacea is traditionally treated with antibiotics, but Dr. Fried says long-term use can lead to resistance. However, he says Oracea is an opportunity for physicians to escape from that "resistant bacteria nightmare."

Oracea contains a low dose of the antibiotic doxycycline, which reduces the chance of a patient developing antibiotic resistance. As a result, one capsule a day stops the release of chemicals that cause inflammation bumps and pimples in the skin.

...and with just a pill a day, Olivierio is now blemish-free.

Doctors don't know what causes rosacea. Some believe it's genes. Studies show rosacea is much more common in fair-skinned people.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Elizabeth Dowling
Media Relations Manager
Continuum Health Partners
(212) 523-4047
edowling@chpnet.org

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