Efficacy of Oral Metformin vs Oral Doxycycline in Treating Acne Vulgaris

Summary

The goal of the clinical trial is to learn if oral metformin works to treat moderate to severe acne vulgaris. Investigators will compare this drug to oral doxycycline to see if this drug works to treat acne. All participants will be divided into two groups. Group A will be given oral Metformin 500 mg to be taken twice daily, while Group B patients will be given oral Doxycycline 100 mg once daily. They will be assessed by the scoring method Total Lesion Count (TLC) and the Global Acne Grading System (GAGS) at each follow-up (i.e., at 0, 8, and 12 weeks). Efficacy will be measured by using the scoring system GAGS, TLC. The final assessment will be done at the 12th-week follow-up. A total of 68 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria are enrolled in the study. The efficacy of oral metformin vs oral doxycycline will be measured in all selected patients suffering from acne vulgaris by estimating improvement in the total lesion count (TLC) and the Global Acne Grading (GAGS) assessment score at each follow-up.

Timeline

Start

2025-02-15

Primary completion

2025-08-10

Completion

2025-10-01

Publications

• Background Habeshian KA, Cohen BA. Current Issues in the Treatment of Acne Vulgaris. Pediatrics. 2020 May;145(Suppl 2):S225-S230. doi: 10.1542/peds.2019-2056L.
• Background Sadati MS, Yazdanpanah N, Shahriarirad R, Javaheri R, Parvizi MM. Efficacy of metformin vs. doxycycline in treating acne vulgaris: An assessor-blinded, add-on, randomized, controlled clinical trial. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2023 Oct;22(10):2816-2823. doi: 10.1111/jocd.15785. Epub 2023 May 2.
• Background Deng Y, Jiang S, Huang Y, Tan X, Huang Y, Chen L, Xu J, Xiong X, Zhou J, Xu Y. Metformin contributes to the therapeutic effects of acne vulgaris by modifying the gut microbiome. Dermatologic Therapy. 2023;2023(1):9336867.
• Background Lee JK, Smith AD. Metformin as an adjunct therapy for the treatment of moderate to severe acne vulgaris. Dermatol Online J. 2017 Nov 15;23(11):13030/qt53m2q13s.
• Background Heng AHS, Chew FT. Systematic review of the epidemiology of acne vulgaris. Sci Rep. 2020 Apr 1;10(1):5754. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-62715-3.

Drugs

Indications