Dermatology in India
Effect of tranexamic acid on melasma: a clinical trial with histological evaluation.
Na JI, Choi SY, Yang SH, Choi HR, Kang HY, Park KC.
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2013 Aug;27(8):1035-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-3083.2012.04464.x. Epub 2012 Feb 13.
- Melasma is associated with an increased density of blood vessels
- Tranexamic Acid (TA) acts on inhibition of plasmin and has shown efficacy when taken orally.
- In this study, the authors sought to study the effect of topical and oral TA.
- In this prospective study, 25 women were enrolled for a duration of 8 weeks:
- orally (125mg of TA, 50mg of ascorbic acid, 40mg og l-cysteine, 4mg of calcium panthothenate, 1mg of pyridoxine chloride): took 2 tablets three times a day
- topically: applied a cream containing TA (2% TA and 2% niacinamide) 3 times a week + sunscreen
- Erthema and pigmentation were measured with a mexameter.
- Biopsies were done at baseline and after 8 weeks in 8 subjects
- Results:
- 3 patients didn’t complete the study
- Melanin index (MI) scores as well as erythema (EI) decreased in lesions but increased in perilesional skin
- MI:
- Lesional skin decrease from 191.48 to 184.82 (statistically significant)
- Perilesional skin increase from 120.3 to 129.70 (statistically significant)
- Histology showed reduced epidermal pigmentation, reduced dermal vessels and increased mast cell numbers.
- Comments:
- Note that in this study oral AND topical TA are used together
- Decrease of melanin index by just over 5% is very low and the result is not very impressive. However normal skin already has an index of 120.
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