A comparative, investigator-blind study of topical tea tree oil versus erythromycin gel in the treatment of acne

Abstract number: 1133_249

Darabi R., Hafezi M.A., Akbarloo N.

Background:  

Acne vulgaris is commonly treated with topical antibacterial agents but unfortunately there are increasing reports of bacterial resitance to most commonly used antibiotics such as erythromycin. Tea tree oil (TTO) has recently emerged as an effective topical antibacterial agent for the treatment of local skin infections including acne.

Objectives:  

This study sought to evaluate TTO efficacy in comparison to topical erythromycin for the treatment of acne.

Patients/Methods:  

Sixty volunteer patients with mild to moderate inflammatory acne lesions, aged between 15 to 25 years old were selected, randomly devided into two groups and treated with topical 5% TTO or 2% erythromycin gel twice daily for six weeks on an investigator-blinded protocol. Severity and number of acne lesions were evaluated before and after the study course.

Results:  

The average reduction of acne lesions was higher in the TTO compared to erythromycin treated group (Fig. 1, P < 0.001). Meanwhile, in the TTO group, 87.5% of cases had more than 50% reduction in acne lesions, which was significantly higher as compared to 53.8% in erythromycin group (Fig. 2, P < 0.01). The drop out rate due to severity of side effects in erythromycin group was significantly higher compared to TTO (P < 0.01). There were not any significant differences between frequency of side effects and relapse rate between two groups.

Conclusions:  

These results indicate that topical 5% tea tree oil in gel base is an effective and safe topical antibacterial agent for treatment of mild to moderate inflammatory acne vulgaris.