Antibiotics
People suffering from rosacea and who are treated with antibiotics over a prolonged period are more prone to yeast infections. The use of antibiotics over a long period can decrease normal bacteria populations and increase the number of yeast.
Most treatments have side effects, these vary from person to person and depend on a number of factors including diet. A treatment that works for one person with minimal or no side effects will not work for another person. Dosages also vary from person to person and are also affected by a number of factors.
Diet:
Typically one person may enjoy or eat a type of yogurt, which helps maintain the bacteria balance in their diet and so may help the decrease in bacterial population of the gut. Another person may be able to eat small quantities of herbs and spices which are known to have anti bacterial properties. Garlic is well known as a natural antibiotic and antibacterial with reports going back through history. It has been suggested that it might help fight acne, and a report on its use for rosacea also suggests that this may be the case.
Herbal remedies work for some people: It is suggested that a significant problem with herbal remedies for rosacea sufferers may be the variable ‘natural dose’ if the herb or spice is not made into a tablet with a known dosage.
Garlic
A person with severe rosacea for about 5 years had pulsed light treatment, antibiotic treatment and eliminated gluten from their diet. The elimination of gluten got rid of most but not all the rosacea. The person then had a nasty infection and started taking nine garlic tablets a day for about a week and then cut back to 6 per day. They say “The rosacea is pretty much gone and they even went on a gluten binge at thanksgiving – and drank red wine without having a flare up”
Analysing why this worked for this person: The Gluten free diet: Various articles on the internet suggest that a gluten free diet helps where the digestive system has been affected by antibiotics. Therefore this may have helped because the person was on antibiotics. It is suggested a gluten free diet helps return the gut to normal after antibiotic treatment.
Garlic Tablets.
Exercise caution if trying garlic, it is reported as a trigger for around 10% of sufferers.
It is suggested that the garlic tablets worked for a number of reasons:-
1) The use of garlic tablets following the antibiotic treatment and gluten free diet may be significant. Perhaps after the other treatments had made an impact but not cured the rosacea. They use of antibiotics would not have been a long term solution.
Perhaps the garlic tablets were then the equivalent of the ‘straw that broke the camels back’. On their own before the other treatments, they may not have cured the rosacea. This is speculative, they could have been effective. Clinical trials are needed to answer this question and also identify if the garlic produced a long lasting cure, which is expected to have been the case.
Garlic like many natural herbs and spices that are antibacterial, do not affect ‘good bacteria’, which is why most people can eat and enjoy herbs and spices. Therefore the person who was now going to take the garlic tablet long term should have been able to do so.
2) The garlic dose was controlled by use of tablets. Consider eating slices of garlic pizza; having 2 slices instead of 1 will double the dose. This would be the equivalent of the person taking 18 tablets instead of 9.
One chef may add three times the amount of garlic than another. This combined with the above would be the equivalent of a person taking 54 tablets instead of 9
One chef may use concentrated garlic out of a tube, another may use pressed garlic cloves. Again the quantity of garlic in a slice will vary significantly.
The active ingredient of garlic cloves will also vary depending on when and where it was grown and the ‘variety’. All plants and fruits have different varieties, for example consider the different varieties of apple.
The use of garlic tablet enabled to the dose to be accurately maintained over the first week and then accurately reduced by 1/3rd
Garlic seemed to help rosacea that affected the eyes: The person had really bad rosacea and had horribly bumpy cheeks at the worst point, it also affected their eyes and they were using moisture eye drops for five or more times a day. Since the garlic tablets, they have hardly needed to use the moisture eye drops. There may be a reason for this related to the way onions and garlic smells can make the eyes water.
If a person eats a lot of garlic, the smell can actually ‘come out of the skin’ and that person can have a ‘garlic’ smell.
Therefore it is likely the garlic in the body will manage to find its way into the skin of the eyelids and perhaps into tears or the tear ducts, in which case the sensitive nerve ending on the surface of the eye (which react when your peel onions and this smell touches them) send a message to the brain which ‘makes the eyes moist’.
Addendum: Another rosacea sufferer who was warned that garlic might be a trigger says “I feel that garlic doesn’t really bother my skin. It may be that I eat it mostly as part of an olive oil salad dressing. At any rate, I’ve been wondering whether the garlic might in fact be helping since it’s known to have some antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties.”
