Treatment of Plane Warts with a Low-Dose Oral Isotretinoin

Abstract

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.

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of oral isotretinoin versus topical isotretinoin in the treatment of plane warts: a randomized open trial

“…Reviewing the literature revealed that only a few studies evaluating the effect of systemic retinoids in warts have been done previously. In a study by Al‐Hamamy et al ., plane warts were treated with low‐dose isotretinoin . In their study, complete clearance was seen in 73.07% patients, which is comparable with our study.…”

Therapeutic management of cutaneous and genital warts

“…In addition to an open‐label trial involving 20 patients (1987), there is a recent 2012 study by Al‐Hamamy et al. . Patients received a dose of 0.5 mg/kg over a period of two months, with a complete clearance rate on the face of 73 %.…”

Low dose isotretinoin as an adjuvant therapy for treatment of different clinical variants of warts: A case series

“…Al-Hamamy, Salman, & Abdulsattar, 2012;Miljkovic, 2012;Rallis et al, 2008), (b) Treatment of different clinical variants, (c) Marked improvement after 1 month of commencing therapy, (d) Significant improvement of post-healing pigmentation and scarring of the previous irritating treatment, that may confirm our hypothesis, and experience with post-varicella scarring(Dave & Abdelmaksoud, 2018), and (e) The duration of remission was extended for up to 3 years (till writing this report) in one case(Figures 1-5).…”