Photodynamic therapy using 5-aminolevulinic acid and intense pulsed light against intense pulsed light alone in the treatment of acne vulgaris

BackgroundPhotodynamic therapy (PDT) is one of the promising new modalities for the treatmentof acne vulgaris. Objective The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of PDT using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) with intense pulsed light (IPL) and IPL alone in the treatment of mild to m oderate acne vulgaris.Patients and methodsThis was a randomized controlled clinical trial. Twenty-five patients of both sexes with mild to moderate facial acne participated in this study. The patients were divided into two groups: group I included 15 patients who received ALA-PDT using IPL and group II included 10 patients who were treated with IPL only. Both groups received two sessions at 2-week interval. The patients were evaluated clinically at baseline and on the second and the eighth weeks after the last treatment. Results The ALA-PDT group showed significant improvement in treating both inflammatory and comedonal lesions compared with at baseline. In addition, the reduction was greaterfor inflammatory lesions than for comedonal lesions (73.4 vs. 33.6%). The IPL-only group showed an 18.9% reduction in inflammatory lesions and a 29.8% reduction in comedones. The mean percent reduction from baseline to the end point of treatment in inflammatory lesions was significantly greater in the PDT-IPL group than in the IPL-only group (P = 0.012). Side effects were minimal. Conclusion Analysis of the results revealed that both ALA-PDT with IPL as a light source and IPL alone are efficient and safe treatment modalities for acne vulgaris with superiority of ALA-PDT in reduction of inflammatory lesions.