Treatment of ocular rosacea with 40 mg doxycycline in a slow release form

Background: About 30–50 % of rosacea patients have ocular involvement. The symptoms range from a foreign‐body sensation to conjunctivitis or blepharitis and may even include severe corneal ulcerations. Systemic treatment is generally with tetracycline. Side effects can occur with the usual antimicrobial dose. Patients and Methods: In a retrospective study, seven patients were evaluated who had been treated for ocular rosacea with a sub‐antimicrobial dose of doxycycline 40 mg in a slow‐release form (Oraycea^®). The responses were evaluated on the basis of clinical findings. Results: Seven patients with an average age of 63 took slow release doxycycline 40 mg every day for at least two months. In five patients, other systemic drugs had already failed. All patients experienced a clear improvement in their ocular rosacea after an average of 2.29 months of treatment. One patient had complete clearance and another had almost complete clearance. None of the patients experienced side effects. Conclusions: A sub‐antimicrobial dose of slow release doxycycline 40 mg daily is an effective long‐term therapy for ocular rosacea. It is not associated with the side effects of long‐term antibiotic therapy or the risk of resistance.