Role of ferritin in pathogenesis of rosacea and its value in efficacy of 595 nm pulsed dye laser in treatment of different variants of rosacea: a clinical and immunohistochemical study

ABSTRACT

Background

Current rosacea treatment focused on symptom suppression to improve patient’s quality of life, prevent progression, and sustain remission. The progress of laser therapy has brought about a paradigm shift in the world of treating erythema and telangiectasia. We appraised role of ferritin in pathogenesis of rosacea and consider its value in efficacy of 595 nm pulsed dye laser (PDL) in treatment of rosacea.

Materials/Methods

20 patients had rosacea were treated with PDL; received 4 sessions, 4 weeks apart. They were assessed before and after treatment by rosacea grading scale and skin biopsies were taken to detect changes in ferritin expression before and after treatment.

Results

Ferritin expression in lesional skin was positively expressed in all patients proportional to severity of rosacea that showed statistically significant reduction of ferritin expression after PDL. There was a statistically significant reduction in rosacea grading scale after PDL (p value = .005*); the highest efficacy was in phymatous then papulopustular and erythrotelangiectatic types.

Conclusions

The reduction of ferritin expression after PDL opens a new era for antioxidant agents to be added as a relevant approach for the therapy of rosacea via attenuation of oxidative stress.

KEYWORDS:

• Rosacea
• pulsed dye laser
• ferritin