Topical treatment of perianal eczema with tacrolimus 0.1%

Perianal eczema is an inflammatory skin disease with a high prevalence in most industrialized countries. As general practitioners and dermatologists frequently see patients with perianal eczema the need for efficient, fast and safe therapies is high. Topical calcineurin inhibitors such as tacrolimus (FK506) ameliorate cutaneous inflammation and associated pruritus in an array of inflammatory dermatoses.

To investigate the effect of topical tacrolimus in perianal eczema.

Twenty-four patients with perianal eczema were treated with tacrolimus 0.1% ointment twice daily on the affected skin area for 2 weeks.

All returning patients showed clinical improvement as assessed by macroscopic appearance and clinical score (modified SCORAD index).

In this short-term trial we demonstrate that topical tacrolimus 0.1% is safe, efficient and well tolerated in patients with perianal eczema irrespective of the underlying cause.