Intense Pulsed Light and Minocycline Combo better than Monotherapy in Acne Vulgaris

It has been a long-term debate over the concomitant treatment of inflammatory acne vulgaris using Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) and minocycline due to the photosensitivity of minocycline. Researchers aimed to evaluate the safety and efficiency of IPL combined with minocycline in treating acne vulgaris in a randomized trial. A total of 40 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned into two groups, either given minocycline (100 mg per day) for 8 weeks with IPL treatments for three times at the weeks of 0, 4, and 8, or the same dosage of minocycline only. The evaluations for inflammatory lesion count, Investigator Global Assessment of Acne (IGA), erythema and purpura indexes were taken before treatment and at the weeks of 4, 8, and 16.

Results:

There were significant improvements in inflammatory lesion count, IGA scores, and purpura index in both groups as compared with the baseline at the week of 16 (p < 0.02). The concomitant therapy, but not minocycline only, significantly improved the erythema index (p=0.40) at the 16th week as compared with the baseline. The group with combined treatment showed significantly continuous improvements in inflammatory lesion counts (p < 0.04) and IGA scores (p ≤ 0.02) at the weeks 4, 8, and 16 as compared with the group given minocycline only. No severe adverse effects were observed during the trial.

Thus, IPL in combination with minocycline shows a better clinical efficacy for treating inflammatory acne vulgaris than minocycline alone, and it is safe.

Reference:

A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Intense Pulsed Light in combination with Minocycline Hydrochloride for the Treatment of Inflammatory Acne Vulgaris by Huanhuan Qu et al. published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology

https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.15046

Keywords:

Randomized, Controlled Trial, Intense, Pulsed, Light, combination, Minocycline, Hydrochloride, Treatment, Inflammatory, Acne, Vulgaris, Huanhuan Qu, Yuanli Wang, Feng Yang, Gang Wang, Lin Gao, Kai Li, Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology