Omega-3 Supplements for Rosacea and Other Tips for Dermatologists, with Andrea Murina, MD

This interview with Andrea Murina, MD, associate professor of dermatology and program director at Tulane University School of Medicine, was conducted during the Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference in Las Vegas.

During the discussion, the HCPLive editorial team asked Murina about the tips she provided for the audience in her segment of the panelist presentation titled ‘20 Tips in 20 Minutes.’ She first discussed a tip given regarding omega-3 supplementation.

“The first tip is about the use of omega-3’s for both ocular rosacea and skin rosacea,” Murina said. “So I had a bout of ocular rosacea myself this summer, and I learned from a colleague that there were significant ophthalmologic studies on the use of omega-3’s for rosacea-related eye disease. Looking into that further, I found that there were several supplements that had the correct ratio of omega-3 versus omega-6…You can, you can start patients on omega-3 supplementation and it may help their ocular rosacea.”

Murina added that there are some early studies that say that it can reduce inflammation in the skin. However, she noted that the obvious benefit appears to be for ocular disease. Next, Murina spoke on a tip related to biotin supplementation.

“I treat a lot of hair loss patients, and so what happens is patients who undergo a lot of hair shedding, they go to their pharmacy and they find these supplements that contain high levels of biotin,” Murina explained. “Well, in my tip, I present 1 of my patients who came in who was very distraught because she had so much shedding in her hair and she was also taking mega doses of biotin. Well, it turns out, when I tested her thyroid, I tested her TSH and her T4 levels. These were the lowest TSH levels I'd ever seen, and I had to attribute it to her use of high levels of biotin in there and its effect on her labs.”

Murina noted that the take-home message was to take patients off of biotin if they are experiencing hair loss, in order to accurately test their thyroid. She also touched on a tip related to dark streaks in nails.

Murina noted that nail matrix biopsies are commonly done to rule out nail melanoma. In her tip, she advised that clinicians do not always have to prepare the patient for an immediate nail biopsy.

“One of my other tips is how to address melanonychia, and it's really through using nail culture first before you go into a nail matrix biopsy,” Murina said. “So I have often had patients come in with dark streaks in their nails, and they are concerned about melanoma. But I make sure that I do a nail clipping for culture. I've seen a lot of patients recently come back with candida subtypes that can be easily treated with oral fluconazole.”

To find out more about clinical tips like these, view Murina’s full interview posted above this summary. For additional information from the conference, view the latest coverage of the meeting here.

The quotes contained in this summary were edited for clarity.