Background: The recurrence rate of rosacea was not known very well, but has been reported as 60% in 6 months after withdrawal of the drug. It is not known which treatment can reduce relapses of rosacea effectively.
Objective: The objective was to identify whether 595 nm-pulsed dye laser (PDL) treatment reduced recurrence rate among rosacea patients who were treated with oral minocycline.
Methods: One hundred and seven Korean patients with rosacea who started treatment with oral minocycline (100 mg/d) with or without PDL (2∼4 sessions) were evaluated retrospectively. The recurrence rate was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and difference was evaluated using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of risk factors for the recurrence of rosacea.
Results: The recurrence-free survival analysis revealed that the group with oral minocycline plus PDL was significantly different compared with the group with oral minocycline alone (p=0.011). Cox proportional hazards model showed that the combined use of PDL with oral minocycline appeared to be a significant protective factor for the hazard of recurrence of rosacea (hazard ratio, 0.492; 95% CI, 0.257∼0.941; p=0.032).
Conclusion: PDL can be used added to oral minocycline to reduce relapses among rosacea patients who are undergoing oral minocycline treatment.
Keywords: Minocycline; Pulsed dye laser; Recurrence; Rosacea; Therapeutics.