Comparative efficacy of filtered blue light (emitted from sunlight) and topical erythromycin solution in acne treatment: a randomized controlled clinical trial

Background Acne vulgaris is one of the commonest skin conditions .The visible light has attracted attention as a new and safe therapeutic option, as some studies show more than 80% response to 420 nm phototherapy with a significant reduction in inflammatory acne lesions after only eight treatments. Patients and methods We evaluated the use of blue light and topical erythromycin in 32 acne patients. The right-sided lesions were treated with erythromycin solution twice daily and the left ones were treated with irradiation of sunlight by a filter for 15 minutes once daily for 8 weeks and in another treatment group, the lesions in sides of the face were treated on reverse manner. Results The difference between the treatment and control sides was not significant at week 4, and 8 (p .05). After 12 weeks of starting the program, a mean improvement of 20% in lesion counts was achieved by the blue light phototherapy. In our study, a mean improvement of 46% in acne score was achieved with the blue light compared to 58% with topical erythromycin (p 0.05). Conclusion We found that visible light phototherapy improved partially acne lesions and may be an appealing noninvasive alternative for the treatment of acne,