Unfortunately, there are not a lot of treatments available for ocular
rosacea. I apologize if I'm repeating information, but I will try to
explain simply, but in great detail about ocular rosacea as I'm not sure if
patients understand what it IS and IS NOT. Jenn, feel free to correct me as
I am not working at this stage in my life (stay-at-home mom) and may be
rusty and can't run this by a doctor.

Ocular rosacea is not a disease in the way that most people think of
diseases. It is a group of symptoms that come about because we already have
rosacea (although some people show no symptoms of it). Because we have
rosacea, we have flaking skin and changes in our skin's oil production.
When these skin changes take place near the eyes, we have skin debris that
often makes it's way into our eyes. Like any other debris we might get into
our eyes, it's irritating and causes redness and possibly damage to the
surface of our eyes, the clear corneas. Our tears are made up basically, of
salt water and oils from glands located on the rims of our eyelids. When
oil production is altered, it can also affect the way our eyes feel and
see-we must have tears to see correctly. They make a smooth glassy surface
to our eyes. Just like you want your windows smooth and clean, you need
your corneas smooth and clean. Debris can really wear away our corneas, and
make it look as if we are looking out through bumpy glass. When that
surface is damaged and bumpy, it causes light sensitivity. Never rub your
eyes, you are grinding the debris into your corneas. It's important to wash
your eyes daily with baby shampoo and rinse well I usually just let the
tepid shower water droplets wash away debris for a few minutes daily, with
or without shampoo.

When our oil glands get clogged or infected, it causes styes, pimples or
whatever you want to call them. The reason that we need to use warm water
compresses are to unclog that greasy drain and "melt" the oils. The
compresses don't need to be superhot, but as hot as you can use without
irritation to your skin. You can look up treatments for styes on the
internet, but whatever you do-have clean hands and clean compresses. I
personally, scrub my fingernails and scrape the pimple if I can to make it
drain, and then rinse my eyes. If a stye persists for awhile, the lashes
will fall out in that area, I assume because it's follicle is damaged from
the infections. I know it seems silly, but if a stye persists, please see
an ophthalmologist to get treatment. Health insurance should cover it based
on ocular rosacea diagnosis as a medical condition, not "vision" coverage
insurance that covers eyeglasses.

When tear production is too little or the balance of water/oil in our tears
is out of whack, we must use artificial tears to lubricate and keep that
corneal surface smooth and glassy. Never use any products that "get the red
out" even if your eyes are blazing red bloodshot. They work by squeezing
the blood out of the blood vessels which gets the red out. Unfortunately,
your eyes are red because they are trying to send oxygen and much needed
help to the eyes to heal themselves. So the goal is not to get the red out.
The goal is to help heal the eyes so that the redness goes away naturally.
Get some artificial tears that are not medicated and use them several times
a day.

Hopefully, this will help everyone to understand that ocular rosacea causes
SYMPTOMS which need to be treated. They are treated in much the same way as
those symptoms when they are not as a result of ocular rosacea. So if you
are trouble by dry eye-look for treatments for dry eye. If you are troubled
with styes-look for stye treatment. If you are having light sensitivity,
see an ophthalmologist (not an optometrist-they only deal with correcting
vision, you need a medical doctor to treat eye conditions). If the
ophthalmologist is out of ideas, request to see a corneal specialist. These
symptoms are all medical conditions and will be handled by medical
insurance. It has nothing at all to do with whatever coverage you have for
vision care. You may need to see your primary physician to begin treatment
for these symptoms and then get a referral to see an ophthalmologist and
then,if necessary, to see a corneal specialist.

FYI- there are currently studies going on to treat Rosacea and Ocular
Rosacea and hopefully this link will take you to see if you're interested:
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/action/FindCondition?ui=D012393
<http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/action/FindCondition?ui=D012393&recruiting
=true> &recruiting=true If not, google clinical trials rosacea and you will
find it.

Lisa


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