Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of shortwave physiotherapy instrument in the treatment of patients with rosacea and its effect on inflammatory factors and pain degree. Methods A total of 200 patients with rosacea admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Southwest Medical University from September 2020 to March 2022 were divided into control group (n =98) and experimental group (n =102) according to different treatment methods. The experimental group was divided into grade 1 group (n =36), grade 2 group (n =34) and grade 3 group (n =32). The control group was treated with conventional drugs, and the experimental group was treated with conventional drugs+KL-DB short-wave physiotherapy. The clinical efficacy, inflammatory factors, pain degree, recurrence rate and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Results The total effective rate of treatment in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group, and the recurrence rate was lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the clinical efficacy of different energy levels in the experimental group (P>0.05). After treatment, CRP, TNF-α, IL-6 and VAS in the experimental group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The shortwave physiotherapy instrument is effective in the adjuvant treatment of patients with rosacea, which can effectively improve the level of serum inflammatory factors, reduce the degree of facial pain and short-term disease recurrence rate, and does not increase adverse reactions.