WEDNESDAY, April 1, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For superficial infantile hemangiomas, timolol maleate 0.5 percent gel is effective and safe, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, held from March 27 to 31 in Denver.

Yi Tian, from Beijing Children's Hospital, and colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial involving 121 infants aged 28 to 180 days with proliferative superficial hemangioma. Infants were randomly assigned to receive topical timolol maleate 0.5 percent gel or placebo (81 and 40 infants, respectively), applied three times daily for 24 weeks.

Overall, 11 infants (9.1 percent) had multiple hemangiomas; in 86 infants (65.2 percent), lesion thickness exceeded 1 mm, and in 36 (27.1 percent), surface area was greater than 3 cm3. The researchers found that 61.2 and 11.6 percent of hemangiomas treated with timolol versus placebo achieved >75 percent shrinkage, respectively, at week 24, with a corresponding rate difference of 49.5 percentage points. In a multinomial logistic regression model, similar results were obtained, with adjusted rates of 60.7 and 10.9 percent, respectively, and a corresponding rate difference of 49.7 percentage points. Consistent and broad treatment effects were seen in subgroup analyses. Topical timolol was well tolerated; the incidence of cardiac toxicities was low (4.9 versus 5.0 percent). There were no reports of bronchospasm, hypotension, or hypoglycemia. Grade ≥3 toxicities occurred infrequently (7.4 versus 7.5 percent).

"Topical timolol 0.5 percent gel applied three times daily for 24 weeks was effective and safe for the treatment of proliferative superficial infantile hemangioma," the authors write.

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AAD: Timolol Maleate Gel Effective for Superficial Infantile Hemangioma