Comparison of the Effects of Daily Applications between Topical Corticosteroid and Tacrolimus Ointments on Normal Skin: Evaluation with Noninvasive Methods

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the skin changes of the neck of normal individuals after repeated applications of moderate-strength corticosteroid or tracrolimus ointment for 3 weeks by use of noninvasive biophysical measurements. Methods: A 0.12% betamethasone-17-valerate ointment or a 0.1% tacrolimus ointment was applied to the right side of the neck of 8 adult volunteers twice daily for 3 weeks together with control petrolatum applied to the left side of the neck for comparison. Biophysical skin measurements were performed on the neck skin before, 1 and 3 weeks after the start of the treatment and 1 week after the cessation of the treatment. Results: A decrease in hygroscopicity and water-holding capacity of the stratum corneum (SC) when evaluated with the in vivo water sorption-desorption test was found on the corticosteroid-ointment-treated side after 3 weeks of the treatment as compared with the petrolatum-treated side. The erythematous reaction to a topically applied 0.1% aqueous solution of methyl nicotinate, a vasodilator, appeared more slowly on the corticosteroid-ointment-treated skin than on the control skin. No such changes were observed on the skin treated with 0.1% tacrolimus ointment. Conclusion: Tacrolimus appears to cause few if any functional changes in the SC of healthy human skin because of its poor permeability into skin with an intact barrier function.

Topical Tacrolimus as a Therapeutic Adjunct in Patients with Cutaneous Lupus erythematosus

“…The major advantage of topical tacrolimus is certainly the lack of skin atrophogenicity [13]. Moreover, as contrasted to corticosteroids, topical tacrolimus does not affect the healthy facial skin [14]. Therefore, our observations and those of others suggest topical tacrolimus as an agent suitable for long-term therapy in patients with chronic facial inflammatory lesions.…”

Comparative Effect of Tacrolimus and Betamethasone Valerate on the Passive Sustainable Hydration of the Stratum Corneum in Atopic Dermatitis

“…Many investigators have developed and used various non-invasive biophysical techniques for the purpose of quantifying and monitoring the functional changes found in atopic dermatitis [25, 26, 28, 36, 38]. This disease is in part characterized by impairment of the skin barrier function, resulting in increased TEWL, xerosis and altered SC moisture content [25,26,27,28, 36].…”

Topical Tacrolimus for Psoriasis

“…Apart from corticosteroids, topical tacrolimus does not cause either skin atrophy or telangiectasia even by long-term use, which is the major advantage of this drug. One of the possible explanation is that tacrolimus does not affect endothelial cells, keratinocytes and fibroblasts, and thus does not affect collagen synthesis [1,2] and skin thickness [3]. In this review, I have made a focus on a therapeutic option of topical tacrolimus for psoriasis.…”