Milk Thistle after treatment

[JackABCD]

I am now 10 weeks post 24 weeks of treatement with Pegasys + Copegus. I made PCR 4 weeks post EOT and found UND, I will make my next PCT 12 weeks post EOT.

During treatement I have suffered a lot for high redness of  the face, recently the Derm doc told me this is Rosacea, I am taking Rozex gel for more then 1 year now, the redness improved but still exist and I have flare-ups from time to time.

Recently I noticed that Sylimarin (milk thistle) can help with Rosacea. I took Milk Thistle for about 2 years before treatement and stopped it while I was on treatment.

My question - would it be ok to take Milk Thistle now ? Can it cause any problem ? Can it in anywat reduce chance for SVR ? Anyonne here know if it can really help with Rosacea ?

Thank you,
Jack

[JackABCD]

Could you please tell what is "facial flu" ?
Thank you,
Jack

[hopeful587]

My moderate to severe rosacea of the face and eyes gradually improved then completely cleared over my eight years on MT.  In fact, all the strange breakouts on arms and shoulders also cleared.  None of the meds, topical and oral phased it. I have the fair skin and the sundamage factors. Also followed the general measures afore mentioned. I still flush during exertion, but not as badly. Interestingly enough since starting tx my pigmentation spots on fading.  Only in 4th wk of tx, hope that it won't return. Good to know about these studies and more info on tx rosacea.  Just wanted to let you know that MT worked for me.

Hopeful

[epiphiny]

I hope I am not talking out of a hole in my you know what as my rosacea did not involve any pustules or any infection of the eye.  It was confined to constant red flushing all over my face in particular my cheeks.  Perhaps we have different symptoms, or mine was a milder case?

[epiphiny]

'Rosacea' is the tiny blood vessels in the skin that have burst, similar to spider nevi (sp?).  Spider nevi, on the chest in particular, is considered a symptom of HCV and/or liver disease.  I was told this by a Gastroenterologist 5 years when I was about to embark on my first treatment.  Rosacea is a bit of gray area as it can also be caused by excessive alcohol consumption ie liver damage.  Rosacea can also be attributed to sun damage.

I noticed that my rosacea worsened after my first round of treatment, and has increased somewhat this time round as well.  There is no other cause for my rosacea as since I had my laser treatment last time I have been hyper vigilant with using sun protection and hats, and have avoided being in the sun totally since starting treatment this time round.  Needless to say, I don't drink alcohol and haven't done for years.

I am really surprised that a dermatologist said laser treatment would damage your skin as it was a skin specialist (who also deals with skin cancer) that recommended I have a laser treatment course.  At the same time as dealing with the rosacea it also dealt with a lot of the sun damage I already had due to my fair celtic skin.

When I was getting my treatments they told me I could get it on insurance because rosacea was considered a result of sun damage and therefore it was a precursor to melonoma and the treatment was a considered health preventative.  Over here in NZ melonama is our most prevalent cancer and so a lot is done here to promote 'safe sun practices' and our health systems are set up to deal with it.

This is from the website where I had my laser treatment done:

http://www.skininstitute.co.nz/Procedures/Dermatology/Rosacea.html

Treatment of rosacea

General measures:

    * Reduce factors causing facial flu.
    * Avoid oil-based facial creams. Use a water-based make-up and sunscreen.
    * Never apply a topical steroid to the Rosacea.
    * Protect yourself from the sun.
    * Keep your face cool: minimize your exposure to hot or spicy foods, alcohol, hot showers and baths and warm rooms.

Oral antibiotics
Antibiotics reduce inflammation. They lessen papules, pustules and eye symptoms of Rosacea.

Topical antibiotics
Topical antibiotic cream or gel can be used intermittently or long term on its own for mild cases and in combination with oral antibiotics for more severe cases.

Vascular laser
Persistent telangiectasia can be successfully improved with vascular laser treatment. Where this is unavailable, cautery or diathermy may be helpful.

Surgery
Rhinophyma can be treated successfully surgically or with carbon dioxide laser by a plastic surgeon.

I don't know if any of this is helpful to you.  Perhaps talk to your liver specialist about the mechanics of how it is caused?

[JackABCD]

How did you conclude that Rosacea caused by HCV or by the treatement ?

When I have asked about laser treatements (or maybe I asked about Photodynamic) I have been told by more then one dermatologist that this treateent will cause damage to me. Do you know to explain why ?

Thank you,
Jack

[epiphiny]

I believe the most effective way of dealing with rosacea was with laser treatment on the affected areas.  Here in NZ it is covered under medical insurance if it's caused by a medical condition ie: HCV and or tx.  Otherwise it can be seen as a cosmetic procedure.

I suffered from rosacea for years even prior to tx (and of course found out later that it was a symptom of the HCV), after my first tx it worsened and I underwent a course of pulse laser light treatment with great success.  I have noticed that it has returned somewhat during this tx and I will probably have another course of laser treatment post tx.

Prior to laser treatment I had tried every other sort of remedy available to no avail. And the cost of all the so called natural remedies far outweighed the cost of a few laser treatments.

Good luck.

Epi.

[fretboard]

If you use MT as directed, it shouldn't affect the liver and in most cases it will help.  I did a quick perusal of google and this is just a piece of what I found.  It appears that MT does help your condition, but to get even a better affect you will need another ingredient.  Oh be sure not to take too much MT as I had a toxic experience using too much.  Also, you are not supposed to use MT with xanax.  good luck

Objective This study aims to evaluate a topical treatment based on silymarin/methylsulfonilmethane (S-MSM) to improve erythematous-telangiectactic rosacea.


Methods Forty-six patients affected by stage I–III rosacea entered this double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Subjects were treated for 1 month. Clinical and instrumental evaluations were done at baseline, after 10 and 20 days, and at the end of the study. Itching, stinging, erythema, and papules were investigated clinically as well as hydration and erythema instrumentally with capacitance and color measurements.

Results A statistically significant improvement was observed in many clinical and instrumental parameters investigated (P < 0.001). In particular, improvement of skin redness, papules, itching, hydration, and skin color occurred.

Conclusions The combination of silymarin and S-MSM can be useful in managing symptoms and condition of rosacea skin, especially in the rosacea subtype 1 erythemato-telangiectatic phase. The action can be considered multicentric and multiphase because of the direct modulating action on cytokines and angiokines normally involved and up-regulated in the case of such skin condition.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119421548/abstract

[hopeful587]

After being aware of Liver Foundation's endorsement of milk thistle's benefits to the liver, I was surprised that "it" was included in a list of herbs and teas containing a specific "acid" that these contain that are not liver friendly.  But it stated, I believe that these are toxic to the liver in higher doses.  I was taking about 800mg a day.

[HCA]

This is a link to a round up of clinical trials on milk thistle and liver disease.
The author has trawled through the data and it's a pretty brief read,but it's fairly recent and I think itr's better for me to provide some sort of reference.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/511428

[HCA]

I've never found anything scientific to support the notion that milk thistle has any hepatic benefit-or that suggests that it's harmful.
I think that even today there is talk of a study dosing it intravenously.
Until some good evidence comes along I think the only conclusion can be-as my first liver doctor said- 'It probably doesn't do any harm!'
If I've missed some important news on this I will cheerfully change my opinion.

[orleans]

a little broad, don't ya think?

[HCA]

It will have no effect whatsoever on your chances of SVR,indeed it will,according to scientific evidence,  have absolutely no affect on anything.