Please Help Me: ****** Steroid Rosacea ****

Can you tell me if Steroid-Induced Rosacea will every go away completely? I was prescribed a fluocinonide solution for a small patch on my face. Now that I have stopped it completely, small bumps have appeared where I was putting the topical solution. The doctor now prescribed Doxycyline for 1 month and Metrogel 1%. There has been improvement, but very slowly with 2 flare ups so far. It has been two weeks since I stopped the steroid completely.

Will it ever go away? Will my skin return to the way it was before the steroid use? (I never had rosacea before)

Thank you in advance.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Steroid induced rosacea is an adverse effects of using steroids. Some patients develop steroid-induced rosacea within weeks of applying a topical steroid; others may not experience it for years.

You can use tacrolimus ointment for this.Using this rosacea often resolves the itch, redness, and tenderness of steroid-induced rosacea in 7 to 10 days with twice daily application. Complete clearing of steroid-induced rosacea usually takes 1 to 2 months. Sometimes clearing takes a bit longer. Avoiding rosacea triggers, such as caffeine, spicy foods, and alcohol, also may help clear the skin.But pls don’t worry as it is not a permanent condition.

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional queries.Warm regards.

[vps85]

Thank you so very much for your response, I am truly grateful! It has now been 13 days on the Doxycycline (of a 30 day cycle total ) and 4 days applying the Metronidazole 0.75% gel only at night, once a day. Thankfully, there has been much improvement since then. So far, no more flareups, hardly any itching only when my skin gets too dry, and during the day when I don't use the Metrogel, my skin is not as red anymore (more pink or normal in color) or bumpy. I just have one more question though. When I discontinue the antibiotic and the Metrogel, will the redness, bumps, and itching come back?

Thank you once again.

[stacystamp]

Hi, I'm glad to here you are getting some relief. When reading your post it was like I was hearing my own story. Not to make you sad but... I tried all that you are doing now several time in the past 5 years and it continues to come back. Right now my nose area is the worst. Itchy bumps with clear fluid. It travels around my mouth at times and becomes pretty painful. I don't want to worry you but you need to be careful with prolonged use of doxycycline. My daughter was on that for 1 year for acne. Her copper level is 3 times higher then what is acceptable. Which in turn made her acne worse. high levels of copper will cause skin problems. I am now working on a liver cleanse and an all natural way to pull the copper out of her body. I hope your condition continues to get better please keep me posted