Hiroshi Ikeno
Ikeno Clinic of Dermatology & Dermatological Surgery, Japan
Title: Long maintenance therapy, more than 2 years, of Sodium L-ascorbyl-2-phosphate, for moderate to severe
Biography
Biography: Hiroshi Ikeno
Abstract
Background: We have reported the efficacy of sodium 5% L-ascorbyl-2-phosphate lotion (5% APL) in the treatment of acne since 2003. APL shows the excellent effect for the prevention of oxidation of squalene, which was reported as a possible role of acne etiology and as a trigger of micro-comedo. While many effective treatments for acne have been reported recently, there are few reports regarding effective long maintenance therapy, more than 2 years, of acne. This time, we studied the efficacy and safety of 5% APL as maintenance therapy for moderate to severe acne in comparison with 0.1% adapalene gel (ADG). Methods: In a randomized, multi-center, open label, parallel study, 45 patients of moderate to severe acne, successfully treated in a previous 12-week study of the combination therapy with 5%APL plus 0.1%ADG, were enrolled. They were assigned to receive 5% APL (n=41) or 0.1%ADG (n =35) topically once or twice daily. This study was carried out in accordance with the method of D. Thiboutot et al. Efficacy was assessed in 5 grades at the beginning and at 2, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of treatment based on the skin-analysis device ( VISIA ). Patients were instructed to refrain from receiving any other treatment for 16 weeks prior to enrolment in the study. Results: The number of patients who complied with the treatment protocol was 16 on APL, 12 on ADG. The number of patients of who maintained at least 50% improvement from baseline in lesion counts at 6 months of treatment was 14 on APL and 9 on ADG, at 12 months of treatment, 15 on APL and 7 on ADG, and at 24 month of treatment was 14on APL and 4 on ADG. Both of agents were well tolerable and showed no remarkable adverse effects.   Conclusion: The maintenance rate at 12 months for APL was 93.8% compared with 58.3% in the ADG treatment group. The maintenance rate at 24 months for APL was 87.55% compared with 33.3% in the ADG treatment group. The efficacy of the maintenance therapy of APL was remarkably superior to ADG. This data showed the efficacy and safety of 5% APL as maintenance therapy for moderate to severe acne in comparison with 0.1% adapalene gel (ADG).