Clinical response according to treatment modalities in rosacea patients

Background: Recently, a combination of therapeutic modalities has been used to treat rosacea. Oral therapy with minocycline or isotretinoin is effective in the initial control of rosacea, and intense pulsed light (IPL) is a useful alternative laser therapy for rosacea. However, no comparative studies have investigated minocycline monotherapy or the combination of isotretinoin either with or without IPL Objective: We aimed to investigate the clinical efficacies of minocycline alone compared to the consecutive therapy of isotretinoin with or without IPL for the treatment of rosacea. Methods: Sixty-six patients were included in this study. Every patient applied topical 0.75% metronidazole twice a day. The patients were classified into the following three groups: minocycline alone for 6 months (Group 1, n=23), the consecutive isotretinoin of 3 months after minocycline alone for the first 3 months (Group 2, n=21), and 3 months of minocycline and consecutive 3 months of isotretinoin with adjuvant IPL (Group 3, n=22). In Group 3, total 4 sessions of IPL treatments were administered to the face every three weeks for 3 months during taking isotretinoin. Two independent physicians determined the clinical efficacy using a scale from 0���3 to evaluate the severity of erythema and telangiectasiathey also counted the number of inflammatory lesions (papules and pustules) at every visit until the completion of six months of treatment. Results: An improvement in the inflammatory lesions was evident in every group. In the Group 3 showed greater improvement in their inflammatory lesion count and erythema than Group 1 and Group 2 (p