ABSTRACT

Oral isotretinoin is a mainstay for the treatment of acne however, approximately 20% to 40% of patients require a repeated course due to recurrences.

The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of %0.1 adapelene gel following the discontinua-tion of systemic isotretinoin treatment for the prevention of recurrences in patients with severe facial acne.

Thirty patients with facial nodulocystic acne used systemic isotretinoin and after the discontinuation of treatment they are instructed to use %0.1 adapelene gel every night. They were followed every 6 months for a total period of 18 months.

Only twelve patients could manage to use %0.1 adapelene gel, two patients were missing during controls and the rest could not tolerate the treatment. None of these twelve patients had any recurrences at the end of 18 months.

Although patient tolerance may be quite low, recurrences may be fewer after isotretinoin tre-atment when patients are pursuaded to use %0.1 adapelene gel. Controlled studies with more patients in different age groups are required to confirm these findings.

Keywords: acne, maintenance, treatment, adapelene, isotretinoin