WEDNESDAY, Jan. 3, 2024 -- For patients with acne vulgaris, maintenance therapy with adapalene/benzoyl peroxide gel and benzoyl peroxide gel is effective for preventing worsening of scars, according to a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Dermatology.

Hideaki Tanizaki, M.D., Ph.D., from Kansai Medical University Hospital in Osaka, Japan, and colleagues examined the efficacy of maintenance therapy using adapalene 0.1 percent/benzoyl peroxide 2.5 percent gel and benzoyl peroxide 2.5 percent gel and their effects on atrophic scarring in a randomized trial involving 126 patients with acne vulgaris. Participants were randomly assigned to receive adapalene/benzoyl peroxide, benzoyl peroxide, and control (without maintenance treatment drugs; 40, 44, and 42 patients, respectively); 111 completed the 24-week trial.

The researchers found that the treatment success rate (percentage of patients in whom the number of inflammatory lesions was maintained at ≤10) was 89.2, 87.5, and 47.4 percent in the adapalene/benzoyl peroxide, benzoyl peroxide, and control groups, respectively. The success rates were significantly higher in the adapalene/benzoyl peroxide and benzoyl peroxide groups versus the control group. There was a significant improvement observed in the rate of change in the number of atrophic scars from baseline in the adapalene/benzoyl peroxide and benzoyl peroxide groups at week 24. Significant worsening was seen in the control group in the three-dimensional image analysis parameters, while no change was seen in the adapalene/benzoyl peroxide and benzoyl peroxide groups at week 24.

"These findings may serve as new therapeutic evidence in maintenance therapy using adapalene/benzoyl peroxide gel and benzoyl peroxide gel, and may be useful in daily medical practice," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to Maruho, which funded the study.