Volume 25 , Issue 2 , December 2023 , Pages 370-379
Kazhwast Muhammed Karim 1 ; Ali Mozan Dahir Al-Ethawi 2
1 Shahid Dr Nabaz Center for Skin Disease, Directorate of Health, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
2 Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Background: Rosacea is an inflammatory skin disease characterized by erythema and
flushing, where topical medications are challenging to control and treat. Objectives: To
investigate the effect of systemic propranolol/doxycycline in treating facial flushing and
erythema in patients with rosacea. Patients and Methods: This randomized control trial
study was conducted on 51 patients with rosacea referred to the Sulaimani Dermatology
Teaching Center, Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, from October 2021 to August 2022. Among the
studied patients, 31 patients were taking oral propranolol, 28 of them did finish the
course, while 20 patients were treated with oral doxycycline, 18 of them finished the
treatment. Patients have been seen in 5 sessions (12-week treatments), and in each
session, the patient's health status, the recovery process of the disease and vital signs have
been checked and recorded. Results: The mean age of patients age was 46.65±10.38
years. Most patients were females (65.2%), did not take any drugs (78.4%), did not have
a history of illness in the family (82.6%), had skin type 2, and had flushing distribution
in the forehead, nose, cheek, and chin. The most common symptom in patients was a
burning sensation, followed by a burning and tingling sensation. The most common sign
in both groups was erythema. Propranolol positively affected clinical erythema
assessment, area, telangiectasia, total erythema score, systolic/diastolic blood pressure
and heart rate. Thus, in 5 visits, erythema was significantly reduced in the propranolol
group compared to the doxycycline group (p≤0.002). So that after the 5 visits the CAT
score was shown that erythema was significantly reduced in the propranolol group
compared to the doxycycline group (p≤0.001). Conclusions: Propranolol was more
effective than doxycycline in the treatment of rosacea’s flushing and erythema