Background: Melasma is one of the common pigmentary problems affecting females in our community, owing to the frequent use of hormonal contraceptives as well as our sunny climate. A lot of treatment options are available but none of them is completely satisfactory. Many patients prefer the use of topical preparations and minimally invasive methods. Tranexamic acid (TA) is a potential treatment option for hyperpigmentation with different delivery routes.
Aim: We designed the study in order to evaluate the efficacy of TA in melasma using 2 different routes of delivery.
Patients and methods: A randomised clinical trial was performed on 60 female patients with melasma, they randomly divided into three groups; A, B and C. Group (A) patients received TA (4 mg/mL) intradermal injections every 2 weeks with, group B received TA (10 mg/mL) intradermal injections every 2 weeks, group C received TA cream (10% concentration) twice daily, treatment continued for 12 weeks in all groups. Melasma Area and Severity Index (MASI) scores were measured for each patient before and after completion of treatment.
Results: The percentage of MASI score reduction was highest in group B (62.7%) versus (39.1%) in group A, while the percentage of MASI reduction was the lowest in group C (4.2%).
Conclusion: Tranexamic acid is a safe effective and well-tolerated treatment option for melasma patients. Intradermal injection of TA leads to better results than the topical application. Topical TA cream (even in a high concentration) produce fair improvement of melasma.
Keywords: Melasma Area and Severity Index; chloasma; melasma; pigmentation; tranexamic acid.
© 2021 The Australasian College of Dermatologists.