Ivermectin treatment in rosacea: How novel smartphone technology can support monitoring rosacea-associated signs and symptoms.

ABSTRACT

Rosacea lessens patients' quality of life not only by visible symptoms like erythema, papules, and pustules but also by invisible symptoms like stinging, burning, and dryness. Ivermectin 1% cream has recently been introduced as an efficient therapy for papules and pustules in rosacea patients. To investigate the potential of ivermectin 1% cream to improve rosacea-associated erythema and invisible symptoms by combining established questionnaires with the novel photography and analysis tool Scarletred®Vision. We performed an open monocentric pilot study including 25 Caucasian patients presenting with moderate to severe rosacea with erythema, less than 10 papules and/or pustules, and ≥ 15 Demodex mites/cm2 . Patients applied 1 g of ivermectin 1% cream (Soolantra®) once a day for ≥16 weeks. Skin symptoms were recorded at baseline, week 8 and ≥ week 16. Grade of erythema was determined by clinician erythema assessment (CEA) and patient self-assessment (PSA). Severity of invisible skin symptoms (stinging and/or burning, dryness, itching) were assessed by questionnaire. Erythema and skin texture were additionally quantified using Scarletred®Vision. Ivermectin 1% cream significantly reduced invisible symptoms of rosacea (stinging and/or burning, dryness p < 0.0001; itching p < 0.001; at ≥16 weeks). Analysis with Scarletred®Vision confirmed CEA and PSA results for improvement of erythema (p < 0.0001; at ≥16 weeks) and skin roughness (p < 0.001; at ≥16 weeks). Treatment with ivermectin 1% cream is efficient in treating not only rosacea-associated papules and pustules but also erythema and invisible skin symptoms.