What do you do for a patient with blepharitis who gets yeast infections when prescribed antibiotics?
Low-dose doxycycline is likely the answer.”Doxycycline can cause thrush in children and yeast infections in women,” she says. “Because it’s a broad-spectrum antibiotic, it’s more likely to dampen the normal bacterial flora in the body. The normal bacterial flora is good for certain things. But if you dampen those flora, then other types of organisms can overgrow, which is what happens in thrush and vaginal yeast infections.” “When we first started using doxycycline for eyelid problems, we were using the dosage recommended for a typical bacterial infection, which is 100mg twice a day,” Dr. Autry says. “But for blepharitis, we use the drug as much for its anti-inflammatory properties as for its antibiotic properties. So, in the last few years, we’ve been dropping the dosage to 50mg (and even 20mg) when possible, which in many cases is enough to handle the blepharitis. But it’s not enough to really affect the normal bacterial flora, so it won’t likely cause a yeast infection.” Of course,
