Mystery solved: Rosacea's Cause Uncovered

[Olney Blue]

Source: LA Times

Researchers have solved a medical mystery that has eluded them for hundreds of years, demonstrating that an abundance of abnormal skin proteins causes the blotchy skin condition called rosacea.

In a study published Sunday in the online edition of the journal Nature Medicine, scientists showed that people with rosacea have too much of a protein called cathelicidin that was processed incorrectly.

snip

Rosacea is a skin disease that causes redness, visible blood vessels, bumps and pimples on the face. It tends to strike more women, usually between the ages of 30 and 60, but men often have more severe symptoms.

snip

One of the most common treatments for rosacea is the antibiotic tetracycline. The study suggests that the drug is successful in rosacea patients because it inhibits cathelicidin processing, not because of its bacterial-killing properties. Future treatments might also target the excessive production of cathelicidin's precursor, Gallo said.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-rosacea6aug06,0,1305081.story?coll=la-home-center

[Auntie Bush]

1. That's extremely good news for those with rosacea. Didn't

President Clinton have a slight case of Rosacea? I thought i heard that some time ago.

[Olney Blue]

2. Yes, I had heard that too. Here is a link I found.

http://www.rosacea.co.uk/blog/2005/02/bill-clinton-and-rosacea.html

[valerief]

3. Thanks! Good news. Hopefully a cure is forthcoming. Wikipedia

said that cathelicidin is produced from vitamin D. I wonder if I might be taking too much vitamin D supplements?

You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[madrchsod]

4. i think the the jr and sr bush have this disease/condition

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. Naw...they're just drunks

:P

[Hobarticus]

28. In Jr's case, it's definitely "gin blossoms"...

In Sr's case, it's probably high blood pressure from watching his family name get trashed.

[burrowowl]

5. Thank you for link

I'm copying for my sister!

[Triana]

6. GREAT news! I have rosacea...

....can't WAIT for the cure (hope it's not worse than the disorder).

[txwhitedove]

7. Thank you so much for posting this news. I just developed rosacea...

last year. So far, the dermatologist has only prescribed antibiotics and a topical gel. Glad to note that light treatments are one option.

[checks-n-balances]

9. Females w/rosacea: so far have you had any success w/makeup?

I don't have rosacea myself, although I have a host of other skin problems, including vitaligo. Anyway, I started using mineral makeup powder a few years ago & I've read & seen many pictures of women who have had coverage success with it whereas noting else worked before. Since I've getting up in years now I've tried every makeup available it seems, and mineral makeup powder lasts much longer than anything else I've tried. It's the only thing I can wear that doesn't make my face completely greasy after just a few hours.

Sounds like a really superficial question, and I'm NOT a cosmetic company employee, just curious to know if it has worked for anyone.

On to the bigger issue: I hope this is a real breakthrough for those who suffer with it, whether male or female. It's good to read something on DU that's actually good news lately!

[truedelphi]

11. I have vitaligo too

It's one of thereasons that I became an activist - Santa Clara County was sprayed for about a year with malathion.

I was so delirious with sinus problems and couldn't stand the way the air "tasted" - did way too many antihistamines - and developped vitaligo.

It doesn't affect my face but is noticeable on my arms and legs.

[Kurovski]

12. I've got it too.

I read some speculation that it may have something to do with endocrine damage.

I grew up in one of the most polluted areas of the midwest at the time.

[checks-n-balances]

18. Wow, all of this is news to me! Thanks for the info.

My dermatologist told me it was hereditary. Good Lord.

[Kurovski]

19. It's just speculation.

God forbid anyone take a serious look at it that might reveal an inconvenient truth.

No one in my family has had it (for three generations, as far as we know.)

[Eurobabe]

22. Vitiligo is also thought to be an auto-immune condition

Make sure your thyroid is functioning properly. Not always, but can be connected to hyperthyroidism (too much T3 in the system) My cousin's husband is experiencing this, the more he exercised, the worse his vitiligo became.

From your friendly DU thyroid-activist: 48%er

[truedelphi]

25. Thanks, 48.

If anything, my thyroid is underactive - though doctors don't want to say that.
(I pass the test but just barely - in some cases I am like .0001% above the deficiency range.)

About the auto-immune end of it - when I was diagnosed in 1982, the doctors at Stanford Hospital immediately said it was auto-immuine.

So tell me about the immune system, says I.

Not much we can say with any authority, they answered. There has never been any money to study the immune system - so we don't really know how it works.

Of course within eighteen months, AIDS was in the headlines and the immune system has now been studied.

But the protocols for approving pesticides remain the same - they look at Lethal Dose Levels - not at long term immune examinationss. So if fifty mice go into a chamber the researcher wants to know at what doses are the mice killed off etc.

All the pesticides that were approved BEFORE the 1980's monies allowed for research of the immune system - all those pesticides were approved DESPITE THE fact that there WAS ABSOLUTELY no way that anyone could have said what effect the chems had on people's bodies! This includes RoundUp and malathion. And of course vaccines are accepted as safe - although the protocols for those have not been modified to determine what effect there is on the infant's immune system.

We are basically flying in the dark with regards to safety of things we allow into and around our bodies.
And personal care products are absolutely unregulated - if they are carefully looked at by the company making them (as some organic companies might be doing), that is only because the company has voluntarily done so.

[Eurobabe]

27. Oh, I know TD, I know

I was dx'ed with Hashimotos Thyroiditis (autoimmune condition in which the thyroid tissue, courtesy of over-revved AI system attacks itself and dies a slow death) I couldn't figure out why I felt like shit in 2003, was snapping at everything, sleeping 14 hours a day, had no energy for anything. My doc tested for thyroid, I had one previous test come back borderline high number (TSH over 1.5 to 2.0 is now suspect for hypOthyroid = too little (plus my cholesterol was way out of whack for a 30 y/o female) So now I take this hormone pill everyday to put my thyroid to sleep to keep it from gnawing on itself. Lovely eh?

I grew up on Lake Erie in northern OH in the 1960s/70s, home of the "toxic brew" where even a river was so polluted it caught on fire!@!! Such a cancer cluster up there. Then moved to Albany NY, where GE dumped so many PCBs in the local rivers. Can you say Yummy??

I don't know why there is so little funding for autoimmune diseases, the list of AI conditions is growing daily, it is unbelievable. I just keep writing to my congress critters asking for additional money for research studies (like that will do any good, but at least I try) Researchers still don't know very much about the immune system, sadly, but it is very connected with the endocrine system - and I see a metabolic hell out there that should be telling doctors something is very wrong. Kids with diabetes, etc.

[Lifelong Protester]

13. stick with the minerals

I had rosacea, and use only bare minerals, and my skin is in great shape now. It is benign stuff, and lasts and lasts.

[knitter4democracy]

24. Same here.

That stuff covers best and looks the most natural. It's also the only makeup I'm not allergic to.

[David__77]

17. Laser works best for rosacea.

Vascular lasers have resulted in dramatic improvement. I'm not aware of any comparable treatment.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. Poppy wins again!

[133724]

14. Thank God......

I may be free at last of that shit....

[farmboxer]

15. I healed my Rosacea long ago with

alcohol! I was spending a lot of money to the doctor for some fancy cream that would work for a while, but it always came back, so I simply put alcohol on it and it finally was cured! It cost me very little money and it has never came back! Rubbing alcohol did it, believe it or not.

[blondie58]

20. well, I was excited when I first saw your post! Alcohol can be okay!

and then I realized that you weren't talking about the kind you can drink, but rather a topical application of it!! JK, but isn't alcohol really drying on your skin?

I have rosacea, as do my parents, and had always heard that it was heredetary.
Now, I also have MS, and ms is purportable helped by taking a lot of vitamin D, but if it makes my rosacea worse??

Nice to know the cause of it, though as it can be a start to helping find a cure.

My neurologist also has rosacea and took minocycline, another oral antibiotic for it, but it caused him permanent pain in his joints, which I guess is a really rare side effect.

Edited to add: I am so tired of people asking me if I am sunburned, as I always have a ruddy complexion. In fact, it was so bad that my doctor tested me for lupus once, as lupus sufferers get a "butterfly" shaped rash.

[shanti]

16. this is awesome

i have suffered from this in varying degrees in the past, so it's great that the cure could possibly be on the horizon. there's also rosacea of the eyes, wonder if this is addressed too...

[blondie58]

21. now I didn't know that rosacea affected the eyes also

what are the symptoms?

[LiberalEsto]

23. Ocular rosacea

I've got acne rosacea and ocular (eye) rosacea. Even though I don't drink alcohol and haven't for nearly 20 years, I often look like a red-faced drunk in photos. For the past couple of years my skin hasn't been too bad, thanks to Metrogel ointment. But the eye rosacea drives me nuts. It make your eyelashes look like they have dandruff.

Here's a link for information on ocular rosacea:

http://www.stlukeseye.com/Conditions/OcularRosacea.asp

[Mechatanketra]

29. Ditto.

It developed gradually over a few years, and I had no immediate idea what was going on -- just that I was prone to sties and worsening vision (which I thought was due to an outdated eyeglass prescription). When I went to update my glasses, it was misdiagnosed as a simple infection, which meant I wasted two months under unnecessary antibiotic drops. By the time I visited a full eye clinic (rather than a small-town optometrist), I was damn near blind in my right eye.

But the tetracycline treatments really did get it under control.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. I was beginning to get it a few years ago, but it disappeared after I went

low carb and mostly stopped eating white flour and white sugar. YMMV.

[Beausoir]

30. This is good news. Rosacea is a drag. The lasers work for me but are $$$.

I also take a daily antibiotic and use Bare Minerals makeup.

If I skip a few days of the antibiotic, I can feel the rosacea coming back, especially in my eyes. It feels like you have sand in your eyes.

Any sun exposure will make my face start tingling and burning. I really hate it.