Comparison of clinical characteristics of neurogenic rosacea and erythematotelangiectatic rosacea: a cross-sectional observational study.

BACKGROUND

It remains controversial whether neurogenic rosacea (NR) is a distinctive subtype of rosacea, and no study has been conducted on the Chinese population. We compared the clinical characteristics of patients with NR and erythematotelangiectatic rosacea (ETR) and explored whether NR can be considered a distinctive rosacea subtype.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Nineteen patients with NR and 73 with ETR were enrolled. A questionnaire survey combined with electronic medical records and VISIA digital images was used to collect information on patients' baseline demographic and clinical characteristics.

RESULTS

The patients in the NR group reported less facial pruritus (36.8%) and dry skin (31.6%) than those in the ETR group ( < .05). The incidence and scores of flushing symptom-related evaluation indices in the NR group were higher than those in the ETR group ( < .05). The efficacy of drug treatment in the NR group (38.9%) was lower than that in the ETR group (85.5%,  < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

There were few differences between ETR and NR in the Chinese population, with the exception of dryness and itching, though there was only a small sample size of NR in this study. NR may be referred to as ETR in patients with refractory erythema.