Objective To observe the effect of intense pulsed light combined with sodium alginate repair dressing in the treatment of facial sensitive skin erythema. Methods A total of 85 patients with facial sensitive skin erythema admitted to the Second Hospital of Zhangzhou from April to October 2023 were selected as the research subjects, and they were divided into the control group (42 patients) and the observation group (43 patients) by the random number table method. The control group was treated with intense pulsed light, and the observation group was treated with intense pulsed light combined with sodium alginate repair dressing. The clinical efficacy, skin state parameters, skin barrier indexes and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Results The total effective rate of treatment in the observation group (95.35%) was higher than that in the control group (90.48%) (P <0.05). The erythema area, heme index, depression index and maximum depth in the observation group at 1 and 2 months after treatment were lower than those in the control group (P <0.05). After treatment, the stratum corneum hydration and epidermal oil content in the observation group were higher than those in the control group, and the transepidermal water loss was lower than that in the control group (P <0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in the observation group (4.65%) was lower than that in the control group (19.05%) (P <0.05). Conclusion The effect of intense pulsed light combined with sodium alginate repair dressing in the treatment of facial sensitive skin erythema is good. It can effectively repair the skin barrier, reduce the incidence of adverse reactions, and has high safety, which is worthy of clinical application.