Treatment of primary perniosis with oral pentoxifylline (a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized therapeutic trial)

Primary perniosis is an annoying cold-induced dermatosis. Many therapeutic agents have been tried with either unsatisfactory or controversial results. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of oral pentoxyfylline in the treatment of primary perniosis. A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized therapeutic study conducted in dermatology department of Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq during four winter seasons between 2010 and 2014. The patients were randomly allocated into two equal groups: group A patients were given oral pentoxyfylline 400 mg thrice daily whereas patients in group B were given an identical placebo tablet thrice daily for 3 weeks. Therapeutic response of both groups was clinically assessed weekly for 3 weeks and side-effects were recorded. A total of 110 patients with chilblains completed this therapeutic trial. The mean age was 24.9 +/- 69.17 year. Male to female ratio was 1: 2.4. All patients presented with erythematous papules, plaques or nodules. Very good therapeutic response was significantly better for group A than that of group B at 7th, 4th, and 21st days of the trial (p-value: 0.0148, 0.0000004, and 0.0000000, respectively). No side effects were encountered in both groups. Pentoxyfylline is an effective and safe drug for treatment of primary perniosis.