Hello Group,

I have received quite a number of questions about ivermectin and its
use in humans. Confusion has also been thrown in based on Brady
Barrow's recent editorial on how concerned he was that people might
start taking ivermectin even though it has never been approved for
human use and the possible dangers down the road.

First, it must be pointed out that I was just summarizing the
results from 9 clinical studies being submitted for publication on
oral ivermectin use for rosacea. 40% of the rosacea sufferers in
the combined articles responded well to the oral ivermectin and 60%
did not respond at all. So, in some demodex seemed to play a role
especially in those with papules, pustules. scaling, patches of
redness, and flushing triggers (surprising one here). Those that
responded very well were rosacea sufferers with angry face syndrome -
- burning, itching, scaling and cosmetic intolerance. No side
effects were noted in hundreds of humans treated except for headache
in 1.8% of the population. This is information that I believed to
be pertinent to rosacea sufferers and thus I posted it.

Second, Brady Barrow's editorial is incorrect and his 'fears' should
be set aside. Merck made stromectol (ivermectin) specifically for
humans and secondarily for animals. Ivermectin has been through
years of testing by Merck on humans looking at long term use and
high doses. The side effects are surprisingly small and comparable
to a placebo sugar pill. In the US, oral ivermectin is FDA approved
for human use. It is also approved in all other countries,
especially under-developed countries for human use. Decades of use
by hundreds of thousands of humans worldwide have shown no immediate
or long term side effects with oral use of ivermectin.

Below is a PDF from Merck on its exact mechanism of action and its
testing in humans. In third world countries with nasty critter
infestation in the stomach, sometimes there may be side effects
associated with the death of these critters in the stomach, but
other than that, its side effect profile and long term use profile
is safer than tetracyclines. As you surf the net, be sure that you
gather information from credible sources and well researched
editorials on rosacea or the same misinformation will have rosacea
heads spinning for another decade. Also, be careful when rosacea
sites are trying to sell topical products that may easily be
replaced with other products or oral products with much better
effectiveness.

The one question that came up from David R. is a good one. Will it
help erythrotelangiectatic rosacea -- the general redness and broken
blood vessels of the face. In most cases I would say no. Groups or
subtypes that may tend to be helped are those with rhinophyma, those
with large pores and heavy sebum excretion (a perfect environment
for demodex), treatment resistant papules and pustules, steroid
induced rosacea, rosacea sufferers with an altered immune system
function, and those with perioral dermatitis.

The other question that always comes up is about reinfestation,
especially from bed pillows and linen, etc. These are not the same
strain that can survive in human sebaceous glands. They can cause
allergies when inhaled into the nasal passages though. Don't place
too much stock in the bed mites and rosacea.

Mites are not the cause of rosacea. Mites have no role in the
underlying pathogenesis. Mites may play a secondary role in some
rosacea sufferers and therefore oral ivermectin (with one single
treatment or four treatment over one month could answer that
question). You cannot answer the question by just studying mite
density, bacteria in mites and what mites excrete when they are
taken out of the skin and poked, prodded and heated. These past
studies mean nothing. Now showing that an oral agent that has no
other action than being specifically incorporated into invertebrate
DNA (e.g. mites) is important and necessitates consideration in some
resistant cases. The highest densities of mites are found in the
Tzone, chin area, cheek and forehead respectively.

Below is the link. You will need the free adobe acrobat reader to
view it.

http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/s/stromectol/stromectol
_pi.pdf


Regards,

Geoffrey
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Dr. Geoffrey Nase
Ph.D. Microvascular Physiologist
http://www.drnase.com
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