To analyze the effect of photoelectric therapy combined with hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of rosacea. Methods A total of 82 patients with rosacea admitted to Gaoyisheng Medical Aesthetic Hospital from January 2020 to December 2022 were randomly divided into control group and observation group, with 41 patients in each group. The control group was treated with hydroxychloroquine, and the observation group was treated with photoelectric therapy combined with hydroxychloroquine. The clinical efficacy, quality of life score and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Results The total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05). After treatment, the scores of emotion, body state, living state, social outing, self-confidence, work and study, exercise, family life, interpersonal relationship and appearance anxiety in the two groups were lower than those before treatment, and the scores in the observation group were lower than those in the control group, the differences were statistically significant (P <0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in the observation group was 12.20%, which was slightly higher than 7.32% in the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant (P >0.05). Conclusion Photoelectric therapy combined with hydroxychloroquine can improve the therapeutic effect in patients with rosacea, improve their quality of life, and will not increase the incidence of adverse reactions, with high safety.