A double-blind trial of a zinc sulphate/citrate complex and tetracycline in the treatment of acne vulgaris

Abstract

SUMMARY Forty‐eight patients participated in a 3‐month double‐blind study to compare the effect of orally administered zinc sulphate/citrate complex and tetracycline hydrochloride in acne vulgaris. Tetracycline significantly reduced the overall grade, and the number of non‐inflamed lesions, papules and pustules by the third month. It also reduced significantly the non‐inflamed lesions and papules at the end of the second month. In contrast, zinc therapy only had a significant effect on the pustules at the third month. The results indicate that tetracycline is far superior to the zinc complex in patients with moderately severe acne.

The role of zinc in the treatment of acne: A review of the literature

“…Fourteen studies compared a zinc‐containing product to other available treatments for acne vulgaris (Bojar, Eady, Jones, Cunliffe, & Holland, ; Chu, Huber, & Plott, ; Cunliffe, Burke, Dodman, & Gould, ; Cunliffe et al, ; Dreno et al, ; Feucht, Allen, Chalker, & Smith, ; Habbema, Koopmans, Menke, Doornweerd, & De Boulle, ; Langner, Sheehan‐Dare, & Layton, ; Michaëlsson, ; Michaëlsson, Juhlin, & Ljunghall, ; Michaëlsson, Juhlin, & Vahlquist, ; Papageorgiou & Chu, ; Schachner, Pestana, & Kittles, ; Sharquie, Noaimi, & Al‐Salih, ) (Table ), out of which only four were controlled (Feucht et al, ; Michaëlsson, ; Michaëlsson, Juhlin, & Vahlquist, ; Papageorgiou & Chu, ). Ten studies compared a zinc‐containing compound to an antibiotic.…”

“…Three studies examined oral tetracycline against a zinc‐containing compound. Cunliffe et al () examined oral tetracycline versus an oral zinc sulfate compound. The results demonstrated that zinc only statistically reduced pustule count, whereas tetracycline statistically improved all treatment endpoints.…”

Efficacy of tetracyclines in the treatment of acne vulgaris: a review

“…We identified 48 clinical trials investigating systemic tetracycline treatment efficacy in inflammatory acne, 29 trials investigating minocycline systemic treatment efficacy, 28,37,39,45,46,54, 10 trials investigating doxycycline systemic treatment efficacy 8,9,20,62,68,69,[81][82][83][84] and seven trials investigating lymecycline systemic treatment efficacy, 77,80,[85][86][87][88][89] 57 of which were included. 8,9,12,14,16,17,[19][20][21]23,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]41,42,…”

The role of zinc in acne and prevention of resistance: have we missed the “base” effect?

“…6 Though cyclines are probably the most common antibiotic, resistance to them is rising. 1 Zinc salts have been found to be either as good or better than cyclines, 6,7,10 but this is probably dependent on the base used as results to the contrary have also been noted 8,9 (Fig. 1).…”