RANDOMIZED COMPARATIVE CLINICAL TRIAL OF ARTEMISIA SIEBERI 5% LOTION AND CLOTRIMAZOLE 1% LOTION FOR THE TREATMENT OF PITYRIASIS VERSICOLOR

AIMS: To compare the therapeutic effects of topical Artremisia sieberi 5% lotion with topical clotrimazole 1% lotion in the treatment of pityriasis versicolor. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 100 patients with pityriasis versicolor and microscopic identification of Malassezia furfur were randomly assigned to treatment with either topical Artemisia sieberi 5% lotion (group 1) or topical clotrimazole 1% lotion (group 2) for 2 weeks. Group 1 and group 2 consisted of 51 and 49 patients respectively. The patients were evaluated both clinically and mycologically at baseline and every 2 weeks for a period of 4 weeks. RESULTS: At the end of the second week, clinical cure rates were 86.3% and 65.3% for group 1 and group 2 respectively (P<0.01), but at the same time mycological cure rate was 92.2% for group 1 and 73.5% for group 2 (P<0.05). At the end of the fourth week, clinical cure rates were 86.3% and 59.2% for group 1 and group 2 respectively (P<0.01), and at the same time mycologic cure rate was 96.1% for group 1 and 65.3% for group 2 (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrated that Artemisia sieberi 5% lotion was more effective than clotrimazole 1% lotion in the treatment of pityriasis versicolor.