WEDNESDAY, May 17, 2023 -- For patients with persistent facial erythema of rosacea, oxymetazoline is effective, according to research published online May 2 in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology.

Fei Liu, from the Jinhua People's Hospital in China, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to examine the efficacy and safety of oxymetazoline. Seven studies with 3,934 patients randomly assigned to receive oxymetazoline or vehicle were included in the meta-analysis.

The researchers found that the three-, six-, nine-, and 12-hour Clinician Erythema Assessment success rates (relative risk [RR], 1.76, 1.71, 1.63, and 1.41, respectively) and three-, six-, nine-, and 12-hour Subject Self-Assessment for rosacea facial redness success rates (RR, 1.65, 1.75, 1.63, and 1.78, respectively) were significantly higher after oxymetazoline treatment versus vehicle in the pooled results. In addition, the incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events was significantly higher after treatment with oxymetazoline versus vehicle in pooled results (RR, 1.34). In an analysis of specific adverse events, only the incidence of application-site dermatitis was significantly higher in the oxymetazoline versus vehicle group (RR, 8.91), while no significant difference was seen in the incidence of other adverse events.

"These findings demonstrate that the efficacy of oxymetazoline is reproducible, suggesting that dermatologists may perceive greater improvement with treatment of persistent facial erythema of rosacea," the authors write.