Good Clinical Responders to Topical Timolol in Patients with Infantile Hemangiomas: A 7-Year Retrospective Study of 328 Korean Patients

BACKGROUND: Topical timolol is widely used for treatment of superficial infantile hemangioma (IH). However, little is known about factors that affect the response to topical timolol treatment. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy, safety, and predictive value for good response to topical timolol for IH. METHODS: A retrospective review of medical records and clinical photos of 328 patients with IH treated with topical timolol 0.5% solution was conducted. Serial clinical photographs were compared with those at the initial visit using a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS). Treatment response was defined as an improvement of at least 75% from baseline in IH lesions within 12 months of treatment. RESULTS: Overall, IH patients treated with topical timolol showed significant improvement from baseline, showing that the final VAS score within 12 months of treatment was 69.7±20.4. The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed age at initiation of treatment (p=0.007), length of gestation and fetal growth (p=0.03), depth (p=0.01), and flexural area (p=0.007) were significantly associated with treatment response. Only four patients (1.1%) reported local irritation. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that topical timolol treatment was an effective and well-tolerated treatment for IHs. Physicians are encouraged to consider several patient- or lesional factors that might affect treatment response to achieve better clinical outcomes.