Following are new updates on the treatments of acne and rosacea, presented at the Symposium for Cosmetic Advances and Laser Education (SCALE) Acne and Rosacea conditions:

A potential new treatment for rosacea includes sarecycline – an FDA approved drug for acne. 

A prospective, parallel-group, randomized, investigator-blinded, pilot study was conducted to examine its efficacy and safety of oral sarecycline in adults with moderate to severe papulopustular rosacea. Overall, 102 patients were enrolled, with 72 patients being treated with oral sarecycline and 25 with placebo. The results showed that at weeks 4, 8 and 12, sarecycline outperformed placebo in the percentage of patients with Investigator Global Assessment (IGA) 0/1. In fact, 75% of patients had scores of IGA 0/1 in the sarecycline arm versus 16% of the placebo arm after 12 weeks. All adverse events were resolved except for a mild case of nausea and headache, by the end of the study. 

A retrospective study investigating oral spironolactone evaluated 403 female adult patients with acne. The findings depicted that spironolactone maintains its efficacy even with long-term use. It was noted that in 23% of the cases, the drug was discontinued due to adverse events –six of which were related to menstrual issues and the other 15 were due to symptoms such as dizziness, headache, frequent urination, fatigue, dry skin, anxiety and abdominal pain. 

Additionally, a retrospective review of patients onone or two courses of isotretinoin found that patients who received twocourses of this drug tended to have a lower cumulative dose and a shorter duration of isotretinoin treatment after acne clearance. It was recommended to treat until thecumulative dose of 120-150 mg/kg for 6 months, and extended treatment for 1-2 months. 

Source: Dermatology Times. 2021 June.