New Insights into the Mutual Promotion of Rosacea, Anxiety, and Depression from Neuroendocrine Immune Aspects

Abstract

Rosacea is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease with a complex etiology and undefined pathogenesis, and there is still a lack of targeted clinical treatment. Patients with rosacea are at a higher risk of anxiety and depression compared to the healthy population. Compared to skin conditions such as acne and psoriasis, rosacea has been much less studied in relation to multiple-etiology psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. In contrast to the mainstream belief that the causal association between rosacea and psychiatric disorders is that rosacea increases the psychological burden of patients and thus triggers psychiatric disorders simply by altering their facial appearance, this review outlines the possible common mechanisms between rosacea and anxiety and depression disorders, starting from the pathophysiological mechanisms of transient receptor potential family cation channels, HPA axis, and Th1/Th17 cell polarization. It envisages the possibility of the neuroendocrine-immune interplay between rosacea and anxiety and depression, and new ideas on the complex causal relationship between rosacea and psychiatric disorders, offering more orientations to open up new therapeutic approaches for rosacea.

Keywords:

• rosacea
• anxiety disorders
• depressive disorders
• neurological factors
• endocrine factors
• immunological factors

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This review was supported by the Investigator Initiated Trail Projects of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University (grant NO.ynIIT2022001).