Maintenance acne therapy: prophylactic efficacy of fixed combination of adapalene and benzoyl peroxide

Abstract

Acne is a chronic disease and even reliable therapies do not completely ensure absence of relapses. Acne relapses have a negative psychological impact on patients, as they feel unable to control the disease and achieve complete and long-lasting recovery. Supportive therapy is necessary to prolong the remission of acne achieved with initial successful treatment and to minimize the risk of relapse. According to the literature sources, the most justified as a maintenance therapy is the use of topical retinoids, which have been shown to be effective in the prevention of exacerbations of acne. In the present study 54 patients were involved who after the active therapy used a fixed combination of adapalene 0.1% / BPO 2.5% as maintenance treatment. Only 1 patient (2.9%) with moderate acne and 2 patients (5.8%) with severe acne had a relapse within 6 months of maintenance therapy. The absence of adverse events during the course of treatment was recorded, as well as high adherence of patients to the treatment. During the period of post-treatment observation (6 months after maintenance therapy), among the patients without exacerbations during maintenance therapy, a relapse occurred in 2 (7.1%) patients of group 1 (n = 28) and 2 (8.7%) patients of group 2 (n = 23). The obtained data indicates that maintenance therapy with Effezel® gel can extend the achieved effectiveness of the treatment and prevent the development of relapses.