Rosacea
This is a form of acne that involves reddening of the central area facial skin around the nose, and only occasionally causes pustules per se. It is more common in fair skinned individuals, and can be aggravated by sun, stress, excess exercise, and temperature extremes. The usual dermatologist treatment is oral and topical antibiotics (metronidazole). The movie comedian and social icon W.C. Fields suffered from Rosacea and although he did drink, he was commonly and erroneously assumed to be an alcoholic because of the red face.

Years ago the literature referred to the “well known connection between Rosacea and stomach problems”. Today this connection appears to have been lost to most physicians, but not to natural medicine doctors. The role of food allergies is unproven, but some sufferers do notice food related flare-ups. Testing for food sensitivities is probably warranted, especially considering that the main feature of Rosacea is inadequate digestive processes which can also cause food sensitivity.

The connection that was so well known and is now forgotten was this, that Rosacea patients have a weak digestion, and frequently are deficient in their production of hydrochloric acid. This can be documented by special testing, but clinically I usually look for related symptoms and then check the response to hydrochloric acid supplementation taken during meals.

Inadequate HCL production in the stomach definitely can lead to trouble further down the GI tract, specifically favoring the overgrowth of abnormal bacterial species in the intestines, also known as dysbiosis. This can be documented through stool analysis. This may be why the traditional treatment of tetracyclines taken orally is somewhat effective. But it’s better to correct the underlying digestive problem, and then crowd out and replace the abnormal strains with beneficial organisms by also using a good acidophilus product. Not every Rosacea patient has hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid), but many do, and this allows very effective and specific treatment.