Comparison of clinical efficacy of topical tazarotene 0.1% cream with topical clobetasol propionate 0.05% cream in chronic plaque psoriasis: a double-blind, randomized, right-left comparison study.

BACKGROUND: No controlled data is available till date comparing topical tazarotene and clobetasol in Indian psoriatic patients.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to compare the clinical efficacy of 12 weeks of once-daily tazarotene 0.1% cream with that of once-daily clobetasol propionate 0.05% cream in the treatment of patients with chronic plaque psoriasis.

METHODS: About 36 patients with bilaterally symmetrical lesions were enrolled in this double-blind randomized controlled study. A left-right randomized study was conducted.

RESULTS: Clobetasol cream was better than tazarotene cream in reducing the erythema throughout the treatment period with statistically significant differences favoring clobetasol at weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8 ( P <0.05). Tazarotene was better in reducing the induration at weeks 2 ( P <0.05), 4, 10 and 12. Clobetasol cream was better in reducing the scaling throughout the treatment period with statistically significant differences favoring clobetasol over the entire treatment period. Treatment success rate was 100% with clobetasol and 88% with tazarotene at the end of week 12 with clobetasol achieving 100% success rate at the end of week 6. Treatment with tazarotene resulted in uniform reduction of plaque elevation and was not associated with the development of hot spots.

CONCLUSION: Topical tazarotene 0.1% cream is less effective than topical clobetasol propionate 0.05% cream in the treatment of plaque psoriasis. It has more effect on induration than on erythema and scaling of psoriatic lesions.