Vitamin A Acid in Acne

Topical vitamin A acid 0.05 % in lotion and cream forms were tried in 55 patients. All of them except one had some form of local reaction, which started usually after a week and showed maximum intensity in between second and third week. Improvement started after 4-6 weeks and clearing of lesions were noticed in 8 weeks time. The occurrence of local reaction was often beneficial to the patient and served as a guide for effective therapy. The single patient without any reaction did not improve at all. Lotion seemed to be more effective than the cream preparations. 83.6% patients showed excellent response with papulo-pustular and comedone acne, whereas response was poor in nodules and cystic lesions. Vitamin A acid improved the complexion in majority of patients indicating its mild demelanising property observed in this study.