Currently submitted to: JMIR Dermatology
Date Submitted: Feb 12, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 26, 2026 - Apr 23, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
What Patients Ask About FDA-Approved Rosacea Treatments: Insights from an Online Community
ABSTRACT
Background:
Rosacea is a chronic, visible inflammatory skin condition that often requires complex, long-term treatment regimens. As patients navigate these therapies, they increasingly turn to online forums to share experiences and seek clarification on treatment use and side effects outside of the clinical setting.
Objective:
To identify and categorize real-world concerns regarding FDA-approved rosacea therapies as discussed within a large online patient community.
Methods:
A thematic analysis was performed on one year of posts from the r/Rosacea subreddit (70,000+ members) mentioning nine FDA-approved medications. Posts were categorized into domains including medication use, adverse effects, and barriers to access.
Results:
Discussions centered on practical application (order and frequency) for topicals, gastrointestinal and photosensitivity concerns for oral doxycycline, and anxiety regarding rebound erythema for alpha-adrenergic agonists. Concerns over insurance coverage and medication costs were universal across most therapy classes.
Conclusions:
Digital health communities reveal specific educational gaps, particularly regarding the practical integration of topicals and the management of side effects, that offer clinicians clear targets for improving patient counseling and treatment adherence.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.