Abstract:

Objective To estimate the efficacy, local side effect of short-contact therapy with 0.1% tazarotene cream in patients with acne vulgaris and its impact on the relapse of acne vulgaris. Methods A multi-center, randomized, controlled study was carried out in 187 patients with acne vulgaris. Patients were randomly divided into three groups to receive 8 （n = 62） or 12 （n = 64） weeks of short-contact therapy or 8 weeks （n = 61） of conventional therapy with 0.1% tazarotene cream. The global acne grading system （GAGS） was used to estimate the severity of acne at the baseline, end of treatment, 2, 4 and 8 weeks after treatment. Local side effects and relapse of acne vulgaris were also observed in patients. Results The incidence of local side effects was 11.48%, 12.90% and 38.33% in 8-week, 12-week and conventional group, respectively, with statistical difference among the three groups （χ2 = 13.31, P < 0.01）. As far as the percentage of patients experiencing a decrease of no less than 60% in GAGS score was concerned, the 12-week group was higher than the 8-week group （80.65% vs 63.93%, χ2 = 3.84, P < 0.05）, but the difference was of no significance among the three goups （χ2 = 1.98, P > 0.05）. A low relapse rate of acne vulgaris was observed in the 12-week group, and there was a significant difference among the three groups on week 2, 4 and 8 after the treatment （χ2 = 3.29, 3.78 and 5.85, respectively, P < 0.05 or < 0.01）. Conclusions Compared with conventional therapy, short-contact therapy with 0.1% tazarotene cream exhibits fewer local side effects but similar efficacy in acne vulgaris, and to extend the treatment course may lead to a decrease in relapse and increase in efficacy.