Antibiotics & Rosacea
Antibiotic resistance happens when germs and bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them, which allows the germs to continue to grow and cause problems. The body does not become resistant to antibiotics, but the bacteria is more resilient against them. Varying doses of antibiotics are used to treat rosacea and other skin diseases, so this has become a recent area of focus.
Understanding antibiotic resistance will be important as you partner with your healthcare professional to develop your rosacea treatment plan.
A Growing Problem
Germs will always look for ways to survive and resist new drugs. More and more, germs are sharing their resistance with one another, making it harder for dermatologists and medical professionals to keep up.11
In fact, antibiotic resistance has been occurring and documented since the discovery of penicillin in 1928. In the United States alone, at least 2.8 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and at least 35,000 people die as a result annually.12
What Causes Antibiotic Resistance?
There’s no specific action that causes germs to become resistant to antibiotics; instead, there are a collection of lifestyle choices and factors that contribute to antibiotic resistance:11
- Overuse of antibiotics
- Patients not taking antibiotics as prescribed
ORACEA® (doxycycline) 40 mg* capsules are a
Non-Antibiotic Dose
The active ingredient in ORACEA capsules is doxycycline, but unlike traditional antibiotic doses of doxycycline, the low-dose formulation of ORACEA capsules does not work by killing bacteria. Instead, it reduces the bumps and blemishes of rosacea because of its anti-inflammatory properties. That’s important because rosacea is a chronic inflammatory skin condition, not a bacterial infection.2