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The pulsed dye laser (PDL) effectively reduces the redness, telangiectasia, and, occasionally, the flushing of rosacea. Patients with rosacea commonly have sensitive skin. Investigators in Sweden studied whether the PDL can lessen this skin sensitivity and, if so, by what mechanism of action. They used the PDL to treat 32 patients with rosacea that was sensitive to the stinger test, a measure in which subjects describe the intensity of their reactions to application of a weak lactic acid solution to the cheek. Skin biopsies and quantified stinger tests were performed before treatment and 3 months afterward.
All patients had a reduction in facial redness, and all but one had a milder stinger-test reaction after a single, purpura-inducing PDL …