London, UK: A recent study has found that low-dose isotretinoin (10-20mg) can be used safely and successfully for the treatment of severe acne in patients on renal dialysis. This significantly improves the patients' quality of life. The findings of the study are published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Dermatology.
Authors of the review article A. Gan and A. Therianou from St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust, London, UK, further suggests that more studies would be more beneficial for further establishing isotretinoin's safe use in patients on renal dialysis as there is a scarcity of current literature on this topic.
The objective of the study was to systematically review the literature regarding the safety and efficacy of isotretinoin for the treatment of acne in patients on renal dialysis.
For this purpose, the researchers systematically searched the online databases in March 2021. The studies reporting the use of isotretinoin for the treatment of acne in patients with renal impairment or on renal dialysis, and having relevant implications to this topic were included.
Following were the key points of the review:
The search resulted in a total of 63 results.
Using the PRISMA approach, 11 articles were deemed relevant to this review: 1 randomized single-blinded placebo-controlled trial, 2 case series, 2 retrospective studies, and 6 case reports.
The level of evidence was mostly low (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations level 3).
"The review of the literature indicates that low-dose isotretinoin (10–20 mg) can safely and successfully be used for acne treatment in patients on renal dialysis, leading to significant improvement in quality of life," wrote the authors.
"As the current literature on this topic is scarce, more studies would be beneficial to further establish the safe use of isotretinoin in patients on renal dialysis," they concluded.
Reference:
The study titled, "How safe and effective is prescribing oral isotretinoin to treat acne in patients on renal dialysis? A systematic review," was published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Dermatology.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ced.14886