Treatment of plane warts with a low-dose oral isotretinoin

Objective. To assess the efficacy of a low-dose oral isotretinoin in the treatment of plane warts. Patients and Methods. Thirty-one patients with recalcitrant facial plane warts were enrolled. A cumulative dose of 30 mg/kg for two months of treatment was calculated; this was equal to a mean of 0.5 mg/kg/day. Each patient was seen every two weeks during the treatment period. Response to treatment was either complete or no response. Patients with complete response were followed up monthly for four months to record the relapse rate. Results. Twenty-six patients completed the study; their ages range from 5 to 35 with a mean ± SD 15.28 ± 8.51 years. Fifteen (57.69%) patients were females and eleven (42.30%) were males. Nineteen (73.07%) patients showed complete response and seven (26.92%) patients showed no response at the end of two months of therapy. The difference was statistically significant; P value <0.0001. Fifteen (78.94%) out of nineteen patients, who had complete response, were still free from warts at the end of four-month followup. Conclusion. Oral isotretinoin is effective in the treatment of recalcitrant facial plane warts.