Ozone Therapy for Dermatological Conditions: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND

Known in the past for its toxic aspect as the main urban pollutant, in the last few decades, ozone has been gaining greater visibility for its possible antimicrobial, antiviral, and antioxidant effects when used in human dermatological pathologies. Despite the reports of clinical benefits, the standard dosage for clinical efficacy and safety are yet not clear, nor are its means of application and its true acting mechanism.

OBJECTIVE

We conducted a review to determine the efficacy and safety of ozone therapy for a variety of dermatological conditions.

METHODS

We considered clinical trials (both randomized and non-randomized) published between December 2020 and March 2021 as long as they provided some PICO information, i.e., population (P), intervention (I), and study design. The skin dermatological conditions researched were: acne, dermatitis, psoriasis, systemic sclerosis, herpes, aging, ulcers, and skin scarring.

RESULTS

A total of 326 articles were identified and 150 remained after duplicates were removed. After titles, abstracts and full articles were read, 17 articles were included in the systematic review (with 643 patients).

CONCLUSION

Ozone therapy seems promising for some dermatological conditions; however, the articles included in this review had methodological limitations and did not sufficiently demonstrate sound evidence for safe therapy. Therefore, more studies with better methodological standards and longer-term assessments of side effects should be conducted to achieve better standards and safety in ozone therapy for dermatological conditions.