Laser Treatment Alleviates Rosacea by Improving Lymphatic Vessel Function

Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory skin condition characterized by facial redness, visible blood vessels, and sometimes bumps or pustules, significantly impacting quality of life. While its exact causes are complex, recent research points to neurovascular dysregulation and inflammation as key drivers. Current treatments often manage symptoms but rarely address underlying mechanisms, and there's a growing understanding that lymphatic vessel dysfunction might play a crucial role in persistent facial swelling and inflammation in rosacea. This study specifically investigates whether a long-pulsed 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser can alleviate rosacea symptoms by directly improving lymphatic vessel function.

The laser treatment group demonstrated a significant reduction in rosacea symptoms compared to the control group. At the 3-month follow-up, 85% of patients in the laser group showed a marked improvement (defined as a >50% reduction in erythema scores), whereas only 10% in the control group showed similar improvement (p<0.001). Biopsy analysis revealed that lymphatic vessel density, assessed by LYVE-1 (lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor 1) expression, increased by 2.8-fold in the treated areas compared to baseline (p<0.005), while no significant change was observed in the control group. This improvement in lymphatic function correlated with a 65% decrease in local inflammatory cytokines like IL-6 and TNF-alpha in the treated skin. > The most important finding was that the long-pulsed 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser treatment led to a 43% average reduction in clinical erythema scores in rosacea patients, directly correlating with a significant improvement in lymphatic vessel function.