Modified red light 5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy versus low-dose isotretinoin therapy for moderate to severe acne vulgaris: A prospective, randomized, multicenter study

Background: Modified 5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy (M-PDT) and isotretinoin (ISO) are effective treatments for moderate to severe acne vulgaris.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of M-PDT and ISO for moderate to severe acne vulgaris.

Methods: A multicenter, randomized clinical trial was conducted with participants randomly assigned to the M-PDT group (up to 5 weekly sessions following manual comedone extraction) or the ISO group (oral ISO, 0.5 mg/kg/d for 6 months) and followed up to 6-months after therapy.

Results: A total of 152 patients were allocated. The overall effective rates in the M-PDT group were significantly higher than the ISO group at 1 month (67.74% vs 10.26%), whereas the opposite was the case 1 month after treatment (75.81% vs 97.44%). Time to achieve 50% lesion improvement in the M-PDT group was significantly less than the ISO group (1 vs 8 weeks). Overall, 70.67% of the ISO group patients experienced systemic side effects such as hepatotoxicity, whereas side effects were skin-limited in the M-PDT group.

Limitations: Limitations of this study included relatively low numbers of participants and high withdrawal rate.

Conclusion: M-PDT offers a more rapid onset of improvement, comparable overall efficacy, good tolerability, and comparable durability of response compared with ISO.