Botulinum toxin (BTX) is a powerful neurotoxin with a long history of therapeutic use in neurological and dermatological disorders, and it has a high effectiveness and safety profile. The purpose of this study was to see if intradermal injections of BTX-B were an effective therapy for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). According to Hurley’s categorization, twenty patients with HS stage I–III illness were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or BTX-B therapy. All individuals got the active drug during the second intervention three months later, followed by another six-month follow-up. The primary outcome was quality of life as measured by the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), with secondary outcomes including the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain in the worst boil and HS-related impairment of general health (VAS), changes in physician-reported disease activity as measured by the number of total lesions, and reported adverse effects of treatment. The DLQI decreased from a median of 17 at baseline to 8 at 3 months in the BTX-B group, while it increased from 13.5 to 11 in the placebo group (p 0.05). The primary result was supported by an improvement in the patients’ own evaluations of their symptoms and a reduction in total lesions. Fifty-five percent of the participants in the research had hyperhidrosis to some extent.
In patients with HS, BTX-B improves their quality of life. There is also evidence of a link between HS and hyperhidrosis.
Reference: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40257-020-00537-9
