Review papers Role of topical combination drug containing clindamycin and benzoyl peroxide 279 in the treatment of common acne

Common acne is a very frequent disorder of sebaceous glands which affects mainly young people. In the majority of patients (85%) acne is mild to moderate, and amenable to topical therapy. According to the European Evidencebased (S3) Guidelines for the Treatment of Acne, therapy of comedonal acne should begin with topical retinoids (preferably adapalene), while mild to moderate cases of papulopustular acne should be initially treated with com bination drugs (clindamycin + benzoyl peroxide or adapalene + benzoyl peroxide). It needs to be stressed that all of the above-mentioned combination drugs demonstrate similar efficacy in terms of reducing the number of skin lesions, both inflammatory and non-inflammatory. The onset of therapeutic effect, however, has been shown to be significantly more rapid with the clindamycin + benzoyl peroxide combination. Moreover, the combination is much better tolerated by patients than adapalene + benzoyl peroxide, and has a greater safety profile, as demonstrated in a clinical trial involving a total of 382 patients suffering from common acne. The present article discusses the prop erties of individual components of the combination drugs listed above, and compares both combinations in terms of their therapeutic efficacy, tolerability and safety.