Clindamycin lotion alone versus combination lotion of clindamycin phosphate plus tretinoin versus combination lotion of clindamycin phosphate plus salicylic acid in the topical treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris: A randomized control trial

Acne vulgaris is a common skin disease that affects 85% to 100% of people at some time during their lives. It is characterized by noninflammatory follicular papules or comedones and by inflammatory papules, pustules, and nodules in its more severe forms.To compare the efficacy of combination treatment of clindamycin+salicylic acid, versus clindamycin+tretinoin versus clindamycin alone in the treatment of the mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris.This was a single-blinded, randomized clinical trial.Forty-two female patients (age range: 15-25 years) with mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris were selected randomly and subsequently randomized to 3 groups. Group A patients were treated with 1% clindamycin lotion (C lotion) twice daily. Group B patients were treated with 1% clindamycin+0.025% tretinoin lotion once nightly (CT lotion). Group C patients were treated with 1% clindamycin+2% salicylic acid lotion twice daily (CS lotion) for 12 weeks. For comparison of efficacy of these treatments, and regarding the skewed distribution of the data, Kruskal-Wallis Test and Mann-Whitney U test were used. SPSS software was used for statistical analysis.There was a significant difference between 3 types of treatment in the respect of the total lesion count (TLC) improvement (P = 0.039). The efficacy of treatment on Acne Severity Index (ASI) was maximum for CS lotion (81.80% reduction in ASI). CT lotion reduced ASI by as much as 73.73% during 12 weeks of treatment. The efficacy of C lotion was calculated to be 37.87% in the reduction of ASI.Our data suggested that the efficacy of CS lotion was significantly more than C lotion with respect to the TLC and ASI, although there was no significant difference between CS and CT lotion.