A Split-face Randomized Comparative Study of Efficacy of Pulsed Dye Laser, Topical Brimonidine Tartrate, and Their Combination for Treatment of Post-acne Erythema.

Objective: To investigate and compare the effectiveness and safety of pulsed dye laser (PDL), topical brimonidine tartrate, and their combined use in post-acne erythema (PAE) treatment.

Methods: In this randomized clinical comparative trial, 60 patients who had PAE on both sides of the face were equally divided into 2 groups. According to a split-face design, the PAE lesions in each participant of group A were randomly treated with PDL followed by brimonidine tartrate on one side and PDL alone on the other one. Alternatively, PAE lesions on each face side in group B were treated with a single-treatment modality, either brimonidine or PDL. The efficiency of treatments was assessed by the Global Assessment of Improvement scores, by the clinical assessment of PAE lesion count, and patient satisfaction, as well as objective morphometric analysis of the patient photographs.

Results: Significant improvement was noticed subjectively and objectively after treatment with PDL alone, brimonidine alone, and PDL+brimonidine compared with baseline. In group A, PDL+brimonidine achieved superior improvement with regard to global assessment of improvement, percentage of lesion count reduced, erythema index, and patient satisfaction.

Conclusions: Pulsed dye laser and topical brimonidine separately proved to be effective and safe in the treatment of PAE. Their combination can have an additively positive therapeutic outcome.