Topical therapy for acne in women: is there a role for clindamycin phosphate-benzoyl peroxide gel?

Acne vulgaris (AV) in adult women is commonly encountered in clinical dermatology practice. This patient subset often experiences psychosocial effects that differ in some ways from those experienced by adolescent females with AV, as they were not expecting to have to deal with this disorder beyond their adolescent years. Most of the emphasis on therapy for adult women with AV has focused on use of oral contraceptives (OCs) and/or oral spironolactone, with little to no evaluation or discussion of topical agents in this patient group. This article provides an overview of AV in adult women and presents the results of a subanalysis of data from female patients who were treated in phase 3 studies with clindamycin phosphate (CP) 1.2%-benzoyl peroxide (BP) 2.5% gel once daily for facial AV. The subanalysis compared outcomes in females younger than 25 years and in those 25 years and older. Overall, the data showed that therapeutic outcomes were comparable between the 2 groups.