RESEARCH STUDY

4% nicotinamide vs clindamycin for acne (RCT, 1995)

1995
RCT
76
Moderate

One-line finding

4% nicotinamide gel worked about as well as 1% clindamycin gel for inflammatory acne over 8 weeks.

Plain-language summary

Patients used either a 4% nicotinamide gel or a 1% clindamycin (antibiotic) gel twice a day for 8 weeks. Both lowered the number and severity of acne lesions by similar amounts. Because niacinamide is not an antibiotic, it does not raise the risk of bacterial resistance. This is an older and fairly small study.

Citation

Shalita AR, Smith JG, Parish LC, Sofman MS, Chalker DK. Topical nicotinamide compared with clindamycin gel in the treatment of inflammatory acne vulgaris. Int J Dermatol. 1995 Jun;34(6):434-7.
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