Clinical Cases

A Case of Acne Rosacea

Homeopath Katharina Riedener-Brunner presents a case of Acne Rosacea.

First consultation Sept. 11. 06

Female 50 years old

Presenting complains:

Acne Rosacea for about 25-30 years,  mainly in eyes, a little bit of redness on cheeks; had inside of eyelids scraped.

Doxi Cycline 100 mg a day, steroid eye drops

Symptoms:

Bright redness, < morning

Soreness, feels like grain or sand in eyes < morning

> Massage and compress

Dry eyes < morning, glands not clean cannot secrete properly

Vision: changed, deteriorated, can’t see things far away

 

Good childhood, very normal nurturing, lived in midsize town.

It is affecting my life. I am conscious about taking the antibiotics.

Overall I feel pretty healthy.  I didn’t have a date for Grad, had Encephalitis around Grad complications from Mumps, recovered from it completely.  I am shy and I don’t participate in a lot of conversations when I am in a group of people. I prefer to sit back and listen.

Went to University and then got married, never really used the career. I’d rather be a stay at home Mom than a career person.  Worry about all my kids.

Dreams: used to have a dream that I didn’t study for an exam. That stopped now. Has to do with the fact that I am an organized person, sometimes have a dream that I am not prepared for things.

Fears: Heights (had a recurrent dream of falling off a bridge as a child, and I would wake up from falling). Had to walk across the bridge to get to town, was looking down.   Flying

Case of Acne Rosacea

Causticum and Rhus Tox. are the two main remedies for Acne Rosaceae.  In this case I felt the eye symptoms were covered by Causticum, also her caring nature, choice of family over career and worries for children lead me to the Causticum

Prescription Causticum 6 CH daily

 

Follow up March 12. 07:

There was some improvement, my eyes didn’t always feel as sore in the morning. My cheeks were about the same.

Continue with Causticum 6 CH daily

 

Follow up May 17. 07

I don’t think I noticed any difference. My skin is even worse than it used to be, cheeks are more irritated than ever. Some kind of rash has developed on my lips, thought it was eczema Irritating, just really dry as if licking all the time, almost feels puffy but it isn’t really.

Antibiotics:

Started to cut down to 50 mg for a couple of weeks, my eyes were just not doing that great. Now 50mg 5-6 days a week, 100 mg once a week.

Still drops now maybe once a week.

Prescription Causticum 12 CH daily

 

Follow up June 18.07

I thought it was going great, I thought we hit the target here.  My skin was clearing up and my eyes felt great.  Still have an eruption on my lip, more along the eczema type of eruption, red and dry. Sensations have also improved; last couple of days my eyes were not so sore when I woke up. For about 3 weeks they weren’t bothering me at all.

Antibiotics:

Still taking 50 mg a day, not doing the 100 mg anymore; have been doing that for the last 3 weeks.

Prescription Causticum 12 CH daily

 

Follow up July 9. 07:

Pretty up and down, for a couple of weeks after I saw you, my left eye was pretty blood shot.  Acne on my face was coming back, was really volatile for a couple of weeks, this week seems to have settled down. The eruption on my lip was really  

Antibiotics: still taking the 50 mg’s haven’t done the 100mg  since we started on the 12 CH

Outbreak on cheeks was probably as bad as it was before.

Soreness in eyes: doesn’t seem to be too much of an issue anymore, still better than before on the remedy. Dryness not too bad

Prescription Causticum 30 CH once a week plus 12 CH daily

 

Follow up Sept. 30. 07

Roller coaster, would be good for a month and then all of a sudden it flares up overnight, will be like that for a couple of weeks and then settle down again. Now reduced antibiotics 50 mg 4 x a week, 25 mg 3 x a week.

Flare up’s: definitely not as bad as it has been before < first thing in the morning, eyes burning, then gets better as the day goes on.  Lip is funny, was keeping it under control with a tiny little bit of cortisone cream in the morning. For a couple of months there was nothing there, then stopped the cream and it came back again. Once in a while have restless legs at night

Prescription continue Causticum 30 CH once a week and 12 CH daily

 

Follow up Nov. 15.07:

Up and down,

Couldn’t figure out what was going on, left eye was just terrible.

Eyes were really dry at night, felt good for a few days, then they started to be really irritated from it.

Still taking 50 mg. 4x a week and 25 mg 3x a week. Eyes now pretty much normal, feels like back to where I was before the remedies. Lip still, started to flare up again, puffing up. Restless legs at night more often

brunner-jun13-img002

At this point I knew I needed to find a different remedy, based on the Acne Rosacea and the recent restless legs at night Rhus. Tox was the next choice.

Prescription Rhus. Tox. 30 CH once a week

 

Follow up Dec. 27.07

I think it’s a little bit better, still having up’s and down’s

Prescription Rhus Tox. 30CH  every 3 days

 

Follow up Feb. 28.08:

I can’t say that my eyes have been all that good, unfortunately. Developed a patch of itchy skin on hip, left hip, just redness and itchy, no oozing or bleeding, no modality. Once in a while it will be itchy no pattern to it.

Eye symptoms worse in the morning, yesterday it was sore all day, sunshine makes them teary, hadn’t really experienced that to the extent of yesterday. Usually quite red in the morning, then get better during the day.

Antibiotics now: 4 x 25 mg, 3 x 50 mg, if it is really bad for a couple of days I will take a 50

 

At this point I was getting frustrated with the case, so I went back to study it again and also the Encephalitis as a complication from Mumps which lead me to the following prescription:

Parotidinum 30 CH once a week for 6 weeks

 

Follow up  April 18. 08

I think my eyes have been the best for a long, long time, just this weeks started to cut back on my antibiotics again, take 25 mg. now.

The first couple of weeks were about the same as they were before, then the next 2 weeks were terrible, my eyes were bright red, my lip thing has been terrible, my hip thing was terrible. Skin patch on hip is gone, it’s fine. The last 2 weeks have been great, stopped putting on the cortisone on my hip and hasn’t come back at all. Also stopped putting it on my lip and has come back just a little bit but seems to almost be going away on its own.

My eyes are still a little bit red, maybe that is due to the dryness we have, I find that I am not even using as many drops for the dryness anymore.. The whole vision seems to have stabilized and leveled out as well.

Eyes: no tearing, when I initially get up they look really good, and then within the next hour they will get a little bit irritated and now when I go to bed they are white which is very unusual for me.

Prescription Parotidinum 30 CH once a week

 

Follow up Oct. 7. 08:

I haven’t taken anything since July. I started to gradually reduce the antibiotics and drops after I saw you last time and had no flare ups. In July when we went to Europe I completely stopped and I have been fine. My eyes are absolutely fine, no problems anymore, my skin is great. The little lip thing I can feel once in a while but it doesn’t bother me at all. I haven’t taken any remedy anymore since July either. I am very happy it seems to be the miracle cure. It paid out to be patient.

Her skin and her eyes look absolutely normal and healthy.

 

Follow up April 3.09:

I am good, had a rough winter with a death in the family and my eyes had flared up a little bit but not to the point where I felt I needed to take anything. Haven’ taken any antibiotics or steroid drops since early last summer.

April 2013:

Patient remains well and has not needed any further remedies.

This case is just another example of how beautifully Homeopathy can clear up long lasting, chronic complaints that are considered incurable. I took me a while to get to the right remedy, but thanks to partial ameliorations with remedies the patient was willing to follow through.

About the author

Katharina Riedener-Brunner

Katharina Riedener-Brunner (DHom, RCS Hom, HMC) was born and raised in Switzerland, where her family used Homeopathy as their choice of medicine. Katharina has been practising Classical Homeopathy for 20 years in the Okanagan and Central Alberta. Katharina continues to study with teachers such as: Louis Klein, Jan Scholten, Jeremy Sherr, Massimo Mangialavori and others. She is also a teacher herself, educating homeopathy students at the LA School of Homeopathy, http://www.lahomeopathicschool.com/ In her general family practice she treats a lot of allergies and auto-immune conditions. For further info please go to www.homeokat.com or call Katharina at 250 485-8333.

3 Comments

  • A nice simple case – solved with good efforts.
    Most of us face this in practice… we may not hit the exact similimum at the first time ,but persistent efforts help us indeed !!
    thanks for sharing …

  • DEAR DR,
    REALLY YOU HAVE TRIED AND TRIED WITH THE HELP OF STEROID AND ANTIBIOTICS. I THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE TRIED THE CASE WITH ‘BORAX’ THE VERY FIRST SYMPTOMS OF BORAX IS ‘ DREAD OF DOWNWARD MOTION NEARLY IN ALL COMPLAINTS. BORAX ALSO COVERS THE EYES SYMPTOMS NARRATED.
    THANKS
    DR SHEKHAR

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