Oral Antibiotics for Treating Ocular Rosacea

Oral antibiotics are very effective at reducing ocular rosacea symptoms. Oral antibiotics have several important actions in the treatment of ocular rosacea:
• They stabilize the tear film.
• They improve oil secretion from meibomian glands.
• They decrease eyelid inflammation.
• They reduce eyelid bumps (chalazia and styes).
• They decrease the leakage of inflammatory cells through blood vessels of the eye.
• They decrease eye surface flushing and inflammation (for some unknown reason, antibiotics are quite effective against the vascular symptoms of the eye).

Tetracycline Antibiotics. Oral tetracycline is very effective at reducing the symptoms of ocular rosacea. Systemic tetracyclines decrease eye surface inflammation, improve meibomian gland oil secretion, improve the stability of the tear film layer, reduce aqueous tear film evaporation, and improve the health of the ocular surface. In most cases, symptom improvement is noted within 4 weeks of treatment (standard dosage would be 250 milligrams 4 times a day).

Doxycycline. Ophthalmologists treat many of their ocular rosacea patients with doxycycline due to its anti-inflammatory actions and its positive effect on meibomian glands. Doxycycline (standard dosage would be 50 or 100 milligrams 2 times a day) is very effective at reducing ocular rosacea symptoms, and in some cases may be more effective than standard tetracyclines.