In order to evaluate the effectiveness of Vibramycin (Doxycycline) to acne vulgaris, a double-blind study was performed in forty three patients of acne vulgaris. The patients were classified as to the severity of the disease before the treatment according to Wand, et al. and the degree of the effectiveness was evaluates weekly by Clinical improvement.
The results obtained were as follows: Among 14 patients who received a 100mg capsule orally per day for four weeks, 12 cases (85.7%) showed excellent improvement, whereas in the placebo group only 4 out of 12 patients (33.3%) showed good responses. Statistical analysis of the data revealed that there was a significant. difference (P<0.05) in effectiveness between the Vibramycin group (100mg) and_ the placebo group, and that at the end of the first week of the treatment there was no significant improvement, but at the end of the third week there was a highly significant improvement, p-value between the first-week response and the third-week response among the patients in administering 100mg of Vibramycin being less than 0.01.
It was noted that 24 out of 43 patients (55.8 %) had a distint familial history of the disease, suggesting that there might be a predisposing factor involved in the manifestation of acne vulgaris.
It is concluded from this study that Vibramycin, when administered in dose of 100mg per day for more than three weeks, is effective in improving the acne vulgaris.
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