Ocular Rosacea Biome Study

Summary

Ocular rosacea is an inflammatory disease of the eyelids and ocular surface. Like the facial disease, the ocular condition is chronic and recurrent. Sequelae of ocular rosacea vary from mild to severe. Ocular rosacea may cause chronic eye redness, blepharitis, recurrent chalazia, dry eye, corneal erosion, corneal vascularization, and corneal ulceration. Rosacea affecting the cornea can result in vision loss. Prescription eye drops and ointments can be used topically to control mild ocular rosacea. However, severe disease, or rosacea that is not well controlled with local treatments is treated systemically. The most commonly used systemic treatment for rosacea is the bacteriostatic antibiotic doxycycline. Rosacea treatment doses of doxycycline vary widely. Treatment-dose doxycycline for systemic infections is 100mg twice a day. However, as rosacea is considered an inflammatory disease, doxycycline is often dosed at what is termed, sub-microbial dose doxycycline (SDD). Initially introduced in the oral medicine literature, SDD are doses 40mg and lower because systemic administration at this dose does not appear to alter the oral mucosa flora or increase resistance rates when given long-term for periodontal disease. Whereas 100mg doxycycline, even when given short term, may increase the percentage of culturable nasopharyngeal flora that is resistant to doxycycline. The FDA does not categorize SDD an antibiotic, stating this dosing is expected to exhibit only anti-inflammatory activity.

Timeline

Start

2023-06-22

Primary completion

2025-07-11

Completion

2026-12-31

Publications

• Background Schaller M, Kemeny L, Havlickova B, Jackson JM, Ambroziak M, Lynde C, Gooderham M, Remenyik E, Del Rosso J, Weglowska J, Chavda R, Kerrouche N, Dirschka T, Johnson S. A randomized phase 3b/4 study to evaluate concomitant use of topical ivermectin 1% cream and doxycycline 40-mg modified-release capsules, versus topical ivermectin 1% cream and placebo in the treatment of severe rosacea. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020 Feb;82(2):336-343. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2019.05.063. Epub 2019 May 29.
• Background Zhang M, Silverberg JI, Kaffenberger BH. Prescription patterns and costs of acne/rosacea medications in Medicare patients vary by prescriber specialty. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2017 Sep;77(3):448-455.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2017.04.1127. Epub 2017 Jun 23.
• Background Nagler AR, Del Rosso J. The Use of Oral Antibiotics in the Management of Rosacea. J Drugs Dermatol. 2019 Jun 1;18(6):506.
• Background Del Rosso JQ, Schlessinger J, Werschler P. Comparison of anti-inflammatory dose doxycycline versus doxycycline 100 mg in the treatment of rosacea. J Drugs Dermatol. 2008 Jun;7(6):573-6. No abstract available.
• Background Preshaw PM, Novak MJ, Mellonig J, Magnusson I, Polson A, Giannobile WV, Rowland RW, Thomas J, Walker C, Dawson DR, Sharkey D, Bradshaw MH. Modified-release subantimicrobial dose doxycycline enhances scaling and root planing in subjects with periodontal disease. J Periodontol. 2008 Mar;79(3):440-52. doi: 10.1902/jop.2008.070375.
• Background Skidmore R, Kovach R, Walker C, Thomas J, Bradshaw M, Leyden J, Powala C, Ashley R. Effects of subantimicrobial-dose doxycycline in the treatment of moderate acne. Arch Dermatol. 2003 Apr;139(4):459-64. doi: 10.1001/archderm.139.4.459.
• Background Anon. Periostat [package insert]. Place of publication: Galderma; 2001
• Background Schaller M, Almeida LM, Bewley A, Cribier B, Dlova NC, Kautz G, Mannis M, Oon HH, Rajagopalan M, Steinhoff M, Thiboutot D, Troielli P, Webster G, Wu Y, van Zuuren E, Tan J. Rosacea treatment update: recommendations from the global ROSacea COnsensus (ROSCO) panel. Br J Dermatol. 2017 Feb;176(2):465-471. doi: 10.1111/bjd.15173. Epub 2017 Feb 5.
• Background Del Rosso JQ, Brantman S, Baldwin H. Long-term inflammatory rosacea management with subantibiotic dose oral doxycycline 40 mg modified-release capsules once daily. Dermatol Ther. 2022 Jan;35(1):e15180. doi: 10.1111/dth.15180. Epub 2021 Dec 2.
• Background Woo YR, Lee SH, Cho SH, Lee JD, Kim HS. Characterization and Analysis of the Skin Microbiota in Rosacea: Impact of Systemic Antibiotics. J Clin Med. 2020 Jan 9;9(1):185. doi: 10.3390/jcm9010185.
• Mahmud H, Keenan JD, Gonzales J, Schallhorn J, Chan M, Arnold B, Cavallino V, Lietman TM, Doan T, Seitzman GD. Ocular Rosacea microBiome Study (ORBS)-sub-microbial versus antibiotic dosing of doxycycline versus placebo in treatment of symptomatic ocular rosacea: study protocol for a parallel-arm randomized clinical trial. Trials. 2022 Dec 20;23(1):1033. doi: 10.1186/s13063-022-06948-9.

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Indications