The Efficacy of Doxycycline versus Spironolactone in Treating Acne Among Pediatric and Adult Females: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Main Article Content
Keywords
general dermatology, acne, spironolactone, doxycycline, isotretinoin
Abstract
Acne is a common complaint prompting referrals to a dermatologist. Many patients follow a stepwise protocol starting with a topical regimen then progressing to oral medications. Recent data from a small randomized controlled trial suggests that spironolactone is more effective than doxycycline at treating acne in adult females. We sought to validate that finding via a retrospective cohort analysis using a national database. Our results suggested that adult women treated with doxycycline were significantly less likely to subsequently be prescribed isotretinoin as compared to patients treated with spironolactone. However, in pediatric females, the reverse was observed. Pediatric females treated with doxycycline were significantly more likely to subsequently be prescribed isotretinoin as compared to patients treated with spironolactone.
References
2. Zaenglein AL, Pathy AL, Schlosser BJ, et al. Guidelines of care for the management of acne vulgaris. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2016;74(5):945-973.e33. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2015.12.037
3. Barbieri JS, Spaccarelli N, Margolis DJ, James WD. Approaches to limit systemic antibiotic use in acne: Systemic alternatives, emerging topical therapies, dietary modification, and laser and light-based treatments. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2019;80(2):538-549. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2018.09.055
4. DRÉNO B, NGUYEN JM, HAINAUT E, et al. Efficacy of Spironolactone Compared with Doxycycline in Moderate Acne in Adult Females: Results of the Multicentre, Controlled, Randomized, Double-blind Prospective and Parallel Female Acne Spironolactone vs doxyCycline Efficacy (FASCE) Study. Acta Derm Venereol. 2024;104:26002. doi:10.2340/actadv.v104.26002
Article Sidebar
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY): lets others distribute and copy the article, to create extracts, abstracts, and other revised versions, adaptations or derivative works of or from an article (such as a translation), to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), to text or data mine the article, even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the author(s), do not represent the author as endorsing their adaptation of the article, and do not modify the article in such a way as to damage the author's honor or reputation.
Authors retain copyright in their work and license the publisher to publish the content. The publisher is the National Society for Cutaneous Medicine, with production and publishing support provided by OJS, Open Journal Systems,see https://pkp.sfu.
Prior to January 2022, authors transferred copyright to the National Society for Cutaneous Medicine. However, all articles are freely available to anyone in the world. There are no subscription fees, page charges, or article processing charges.