A double-blind comparison of topical clindamycin and oral minocycline in the treatment of acne vulgaris

Abstract

Sixty-six patients with moderate to severe facial acne vulgaris were entered in a 12-week double-blind study to compare the efficacy of topical clindamycin phosphate 1% twice daily and oral minocycline 50 mg twice daily. Both treatments gave significant overall improvements from baseline observations in acne grade and inflamed lesion counts, but not in noninflamed lesion counts. There were no significant differences between the two treatment groups in respect of acne grade, inflamed or non-inflamed lesion counts. Both treatment regimes were well tolerated. This study has shown that topical clindamycin twice daily is an effective alternative to oral minocycline 50 mg twice daily in the treatment of moderate to severe facial acne vulgaris.