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.