Erythromycin 2 percent gel in the treatment of acne vulgaris.

A gel formulation of erythromycin 2 percent was compared with its vehicle in a double-blind multicenter study involving patients with mild to moderate acne vulgaris. In an analysis of 187 patients treated twice daily for 8 weeks, erythromycin 2 percent gel proved to be significantly more effective than vehicle in reducing the numbers of both inflammatory and noninflammatory lesions. After 8 weeks, 60 percent of erythromycin-treated patients had good or excellent responses compared with 36 percent of those using vehicle (p = 0.001); the lesions in two patients using erythromycin were completely cleared. The majority of patients had a favorable impression of the cosmetic characteristics of the gel formulation.