Cryomodulation reduces rosacea symptoms

Key takeaways:

• In a pilot study of 20 patients, 97% reported a reduction in redness and papules and pustules after five cryomodulation sessions.
• All patients reported they would recommend the treatment to others.

ORLANDO — Patients with rosacea experienced an improvement in symptoms following cryomodulation, according to pilot study results presented at the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Annual Meeting.

“Rosacea is a common, chronic inflammatory skin condition characterized by facial flushing, erythema, telangiectasias, papules and pustules,” Ashish C. Bhatia, MD, director of dermatologic, laser and cosmetic surgery at Oak Dermatology and associate professor of clinical dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said during his presentation. “Hyperreactive immune response to environmental triggers induces this signaling cascade of inflammatory factors that leads to this chronic inflammation and an altered vascular state.”

This prospective, multicenter pilot study included 20 patients (average age, 47.5 years; age range, 23-71 years; 95% women; 75% white) with rosacea who each received five treatment sessions with the Glacial RX cryomodulation system at 2-week intervals. Follow up was at 1, 2 and 3 months post-treatment.

One month after the final treatment, 91.7% of patients reported improvement in redness, papules and pustules and blushing, and 100% achieved this goal 2 months after treatment. This dropped to 84.6% 3 months after treatment.

Patient-reported cosmetic improvement was also reported by 91.7% of patients at 1 and 2 months following treatment, but dropped to 76.9% after 3 months. All of the patients said they would recommend the treatment to others, with 83% saying they would repeat the procedure themselves.

There were no treatment- or device-related adverse events reported.

“Clinical data from this study support the use of cryomodulation for the reduction of inflammation in patients with rosacea,” Bhatia wrote. “Reductions in rosacea symptoms were achieved in a simple, comfortable procedure with high patient comfort and high patient satisfaction.”