A Topical Medication of All- Trans Retinoic Acid Reduces Sebum Excretion Rate in Patients With Forehead Acne

Acne is a disease of the hair follicles of the face, chest, and back that affects almost all teenagers during puberty. This study is conducted to investigate if all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) could reduce sebum excretion rate (SER) in acne patients by influencing content of skin-surface lipid production. Thirty-nine patients with forehead acne were topically treated with cream base (vehicle) and 0.025% ATRA cream once a night for 7 days. Separation and identification of sebum production collected from the skin on the acne were performed using thin-layer chromatography. SER was calculated according to the total amount of individual sebum productions that were quantified by using Alphaimager IS-2200 imaging analysis. Our data showed that the value of SER on the acneaffected skin was significantly decreased in the ATRA-treated patients as compared with ones treated with vehicle (P < 0.01). Treatment with ATRA resulted in inducing significant decreases in the contents of wax esters (WE), triglycerides and fatty acids, and free fatty acids (FFA) productions (all P, 0.01). In further analysis, the changes in the data before and after treatments with vehicle and ATRA were compared with significant differences exhibited in the values of SER, WE, and FFA (all P < 0.05). This study indicates that the topical application of ATRA in treatment of acne patients induces decrease in SER by inhibiting the excretion of WE and FFA productions.SCI(E)ARTICLE2E207-E2122