Derm News: 2007.13(10)

A comparison of triple combination cream and hydroquinone 4% cream for the treatment of moderate to severe facial melasma

Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 6(1):36-39
Tania Ferreira Cestari MD, Karime Hassun MD, Alexandre Sittart MD, Maria de Lourdes Viegas MD
ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of a triple combination (TC) cream and monotherapy with hydroquinone (HQ) cream in the treatment of moderate to severe facial melasma. A total of 120 patients applied TC cream once daily or HQ cream twice daily for 8 weeks. Evaluations included static global severity assessment of melasma, improvement of melasma over time, local tolerability, and adverse events.

TC cream was significantly more effective than HQ cream from week 4 onwards: lesions were approximately equivalent to the surrounding skin in 35% of all TC-treated patients, compared to 5% of those who used HQ cream (P = 0.0001). Improvement of more than 75% was achieved by 73% of TC cream patients and 49% of HQ cream patients (P = 0.007). The incidence of adverse events (erythema, burning sensation, and desquamation) was similar in both groups. No patient dropped out of the study because of drug-related adverse events. TC cream was more effective than the HQ cream for the treatment of moderate to severe facial melasma. Both products had similar safety profiles.

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The Derm News service provided by the Editorial Consultants of Skin Therapy Letter^© and its founding editor Dr. Stuart Maddin.