Comparison of 5% Potassium Hydroxide with 10% Potassium Hydroxide Solution in Treatment of Molluscum Contagiosum

Objective: To compare the efficacy of 5% potassium hydroxide against 10% potassium hydroxide solution in the management of molluscum contagiosum. Study Design: Randomized Controlled Trial (ClinicalTrials.gov:NCT05634460). Place and Duration of Study: Department of Dermatology, Combined Military Hospital, Abbottabad Pakistan, from Mar to Aug 2022. Methodology: We enrolled 60 patients, aged between 2-14 years, by using non-probability consecutive sampling. All patients having molluscum contagiosum were randomly assigned to one of two groups, where Group-A received 5% KOH, and Group-B received 10% KOH solution, which was applied to patient’s lesions, by their parents, once daily, for two weeks, or until inflammatory manifestations. All patients were monitored for side effects after Week 2, 4, 8, and 12. Efficacy classification was based on complete remission (>90%), partial remission (60-90%), and insignificant improvement (<60%). Demographic information and frequency percentages were calculated for qualitative variables. The chi-square test was applied to establish statistical significance, with p-value ≤0.05 considered significant. Results: In Group-B, after Week 12, 19(63.3%) patients had complete remission while 11(36.7%) patients had partial remission (p<0.05). In Group-A, only 1(3.3%) patient had complete remission, but partial remission was observed in 22(73.3%) patients. In Group-A, erythema was noted in 17(56.7%) patients and burns in 13(43.3%) patients, but in Group-B, 30(100%) patients complained of burning and erythema, 14(46.6%) had pruritis and 12(40%) developed crusting (p<0.05). Conclusions: In treating molluscum contagiosum, a 10% KOH solution was found to be more efficacious than a 5% KOH solution.