The Efficiency between Azithromycin vs Doxycycline in Patients with Acne Vulgaris

Abstract

Background: One of the most prevalent illnesses affecting the pilosebaceous unit is acne vulgaris. In spite of doxycycline's status as a go-to anti-acne drug, alternative options have been explored owing to the drug's negative effects and contraindications. Objective: In this study our main goal is to evaluate the efficiency between azithromycin vs. doxycycline in patients with acne vulgaris. Method: This cross sectional study carried out at tertiary hospital from January 2021 to January 2022. A total of 200 Patients who met the diagnostic criteria were enrolled in the study if they didn’t have a history of taking systemic and topical treatment for their acne during the past four and two weeks respectively and hadn’t received oral isotretinoin for the past 6 months. After taking informed consents, patients were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to two treatment groups: n=100 control group received 100 mg doxycycline daily for three months which considered as group A and n=100 case group received 500 mg azithromycin consecutive three days in a week for three months is considered as group B. All patient received instructions about correct method of taking the drugs. Results: During the study, most of the patients belong to 20-30 years age group, 48% and 60% were female. After getting the course, in group A good improvement seen in 46% cases, followed by 38% cases had moderate improvement, 7% had mild improvement, 6% had no improvement. Whereas in group B good improvement seen in 49% cases, followed by 42% cases had moderate improvement, 9% had mild improvement, 3% had no improvement. In addition, gastrointestinal side effects are more frequently seen with doxycycline (12%) than azithromycin (4%). Plus, dermatologic adverse effects of doxycycline (4%) are higher than azithromycin (1.5%). Conclusion: Because of its extended half-life and lack of serious side effects, azithromycin is a viable alternative to the standard treatment of inflammatory acne with .....