Rosacea - can homeopathy help?

I have rosacea and the prescribed medication I was given by my GP seemed to make it worse. I've stopped taking anything now and my face looks a little calmer but is there a homeopathic remedy which would help?


Dr Keith Souter replies:

The skin is not easy to treat and my favoured option is generally to try to pin down a constitutional remedy. The reason is that one wants to treat this from within outwards, rather than simply targeting the skin. Having said that, if you use low potency remedies then you may well be able to bring about improvement, provided you match the remedy to the pattern of rosacea.

• Calc silicata is a good remedy to use when in addition to the generalised redness there is a tendency to produce small pimples. It is particularly useful if you are a chilly and tend towards constipation.
• Arnica does not always come to people’s mind, yet it often works wonders with this condition because it is so useful at helping blood vessels. Think of this if you tend to get aching pains or a bruised feeling.
• Lachesis is useful if there is a bluish or purplish appearance to the rosacea, especially if you get a bloated feeling and tend to be a chatterbox.
• Causticum is another great remedy with rosacea, especially if it tends to produce problems around the nose. The people who tend to benefit most from this remedy are sympathetic people.
• And finally, Sulphur must never be forgotten. There is always something a little unkempt in people who need this remedy and they tend to be philosophical by nature.

A version of this article appeared in Health and Homeopathy. To find out more about homeopathy visit www.trusthomeopathy.org

Keith Souter MB ChB FRCGP MFHom MIPsiMed DipMedAc is a part-time GP in Yorkshire and has a private holistic medicine practice and is a newspaper columnist as well as the author of Homeopathy for the Third Age and Homeopathy: Heart & Soul.