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Rosacea - Evidence
Evidence on the effectiveness of lifestyle changes
Lifestyle modifications are recommended on the basis of known physiological principles, epidemiological factors, and clinical experience, rather than data from controlled trials. One randomized controlled trial (RCT) reported that the use of sunscreen combined with metronidazole was more effective than placebo, but this does not provide evidence for the use of sunscreen alone.
- A Cochrane review (search date: February 2005) identified a double-blind RCT (n = 120) that randomized people with rosacea to receive either a topical cream consisting of metronidazole (1%) combined with sunscreen (sun-protection factor 15), or placebo, for 4 weeks [van Zuuren et al, 2005].
- More people in the treatment group than the placebo group reported improvement (p = 0.02).
- There was a significant reduction in the number of lesions in the treatment group compared with placebo (13.6 compared with 4.6, p = 0.006).
- However, this RCT does not support the use of sunscreen alone in the treatment of rosacea, as the benefit might have been solely due to topical metronidazole, which has been shown to be effective on its own. For more information, see Effectiveness of topical treatments.
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