Effects of Oral Antioxidants on Lesion Counts Associated with Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Patients with Papulopustular Acne

Background: There has been an increasing focus on the extent to which oxidative stress and inflammation are involved in the pathophysiology of acne. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of oral Silymarin, N-acetylcysteine and Selenium in the treatment of acne vulgaris. Methods: A randomized prospective clinical trial was carried out on 56 patients with acne vulgaris who were examined clinically by dermatologist and classified according to disease severity. Serum levels of Glutathione, Malondialdehyde and Interleukine-8 in the acne patients were measured pre- and eight weeks post-treatment with oral antioxidants and compared to that of 28 healthy volunteers. The clinical follow- up was done every two weeks to assess the changes in the number of inflammatory lesions. Results: Administration of antioxidants to patients with acne vulgaris significantly reduce serum Malondialdehyde level; and increased serum level of Glutathione after eight weeks compared to pre-treatment value, also significantly reduce Interleukine-8 serum levels and the number of inflammatory lesions in patients with acne compared to placebo. Conclusion: The results obtained in this study clearly showed the beneficial effect of Silymarin, N-acetylcysteine and Selenium to patients with acne vulgaris as indicated by the clinical improvement that strongly and positively correlated with improvement in biochemical data