[Adequate prescription and application of topicals : How to calculate the right volume for the prescription of ointment needed?].

BACKGROUND

Uncertainty regarding the suitable amount of prescribed ointment and its application by patients may cause insufficient or uneconomic health care provision. To address this issue, standardized methods and experts' knowledge on the suitable amount and coherent patient's elucidation for application of topicals are needed.

OBJECTIVES

Presented are current data in routine care and scientific evidence on the prescribed amount of topical agents as well as its application by patients in dermatological care.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A literature review was conducted via PubMed using the keywords as individual and pooled search terms: "local therapy", "topical treatment", "prescription", "amount of ointment needed", "involved area", "BSA", "finger-tip-unit", "Rule of Hand", "calculated dosage" and "rule of nines". We included original studies by manually screening title and abstract according to the relevance of the topic.

RESULTS

The search strategy identified 19 clinical trials. The fingertip unit (FTU) is the most frequently used measurement for accurate application of external agents. Appropriate prescribed amount is calculated by required topical agent per involved surface area.

CONCLUSIONS

There is still a need for clarification to which extent the optimized amount of ointment is prescribed and advice for its application in routine care is given. The FTU combined with the "Rule of Hand" is an adequate measurement for patient's guidance on self-application.