Summary:
Introduction: Combination therapy is an effective approach
to simultaneously target multiple pathogenic factor of acne.
A unique combination of oral azithromycin pulse therapy
and daily topical benzoyl peroxide has been developed for treatment of acne.
Material & Methods: It was an open, controlled, clinical
trial, conducted on 37 out patients with acne vulgaris.
Patients were clinically assessed at baseline &at week 0,4, 8
and 12.
Evaluation included success rate (subjects clear or excellent
improvement, good response), lesion count & percentage
change in lesion count from baseline, cutaneous tolerability
& adverse events.
Results: The combination of oral azithromycin pulse therapy
& daily topical benzoyl peroxide was very safe & effective
with significant differences in percentage of lesion count
change observed as early as 1-4 weeks .Adverse events were
more frequent with the combination therapy that occurred
early in the study &were transient.
Conclusion: This study revealed that combination regimen
of azithromycin &benzoyl peroxide (4%) is indeed very much efficacious & safe in the management of acne vulgaris.
Key words: “To evaluate the efficacy & safety of oral
azithromycin pulse therapy & daily topical benzoyl peroxide (4%) combination in the treatment of acne vulgaris.”
(J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2018; 36: 11-15)