Combined therapy in vulvar lichen sclerosus: does topical tretinoin improve the efficacy of mometasone furoate?

Purpose: To assess efficacy and safety profile of combining a potent corticosteroid with a retinoid in the treatment of vulvar lichen sclerosus (VLS). Methods: We retrospectively compared 21 VLS patients treated with tretinoin (T) in short-contact therapy and mometasone furoate (MMF) (group A) and 20 treated with cold cream (CC) and MMF (group B) for 5 consecutive days/week for 12 weeks. The efficacy parameters were the response rate, the percentage of patients achieving an improvement from baseline of >= 75% in subjective and objective scores and the mean reduction in subjective and objective scores. Results: Thirteen patients (75.2%) were considered as responders in group A and 15 (78.9%) in group B; 50% and 61.1% of patients in group A and 100% and 63.1% in group B achieved an improvement of at least >= 75% in subjective and objective scores, respectively. The scheme combining MMF and CC was better tolerated than the combination of MMF and T. Conclusions: The combination with a topical retinoid did not enhance the effectiveness of a potent corticosteroid in the treatment of VLS. Either the scarce efficacy of the short-contact therapy regimen or a less favorable safety profile of such combination may account for these findings.