Iontophoresis of vidarabine monophosphate for herpes orolabialis.
The cutaneous application of antiviral agents was studied by iontophoresis, a process that increases penetration of most drugs 20- to 60-fold. Twenty-seven subjects with vesicular orolabial herpes were treated one time in a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study: nine received vidarabine monophosphate (ara-AMP), nine received acyclovir (ACV), and nine received NaCl. Ara-AMP-treated lesions yielded lower titers of virus after 24 hr compared with lesions treated with NaCl or ACV (P less than .05). Ara-AMP significantly decreased the duration of shedding of virus (P less than .05) and time to dry crust (P less than .05) compared with the other two agents. There was a trend toward decreased healing time after ara-AMP treatment.
D000212:Acyclovir / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000328:Adult; D001088:Arabinonucleotides / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D006560:Herpes Labialis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007478:Iontophoresis; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D001084:Vidarabine Phosphate / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D001088:Arabinonucleotides; D001084:Vidarabine Phosphate; D000212:Acyclovir