A Comparative Study of Efficacy between Oral Tranexamic Acid with Fluocinolone-Based Triple Combination Cream Versus Fluocinolone-Based Triple Combination Cream Alone in Melasma

Abstract

Introduction: Melasma is an acquired, chronic, recurrent hyper-pigmentary disorder characterized by symmetric light-brown to bluish-gray macules and patches with irregular, sharp borders. The term “melasma” is derived from the Greek word “melas,” meaning black, while “chloasma” refers to its occurrence during pregnancy, derived from “chloazein,” meaning green. Clinically, melasma predominantly affects the face, including the forehead, cheeks, temples, upper lip, chin, and nose. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 clinically diagnosed cases of melasma attending the Skin and VD outpatient department of Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 2020 to June 2020. Result: Ages of the patient at onset of melasma, in majority (56.67%) cases were between 20-25 years and 90% study population was female. Most (56.67%) of the patients were housewife. Regarding the distribution of melasma 50% were found malar, 46.67% centro-facial and 3.33% mandibular. By 12 weeks, Group A's mean MASI score further reduced to 6.995 ± 6.056, and Group B's score decreased significantly to 2.19 ± 2.378. The P value of 0.00 confirms a statistically significant difference between the groups at 12 weeks. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study demonstrates that oral tranexamic acid in combination with fluocinolone-based triple combination cream is significantly more effective in treating facial melasma than the cream alone.