Black Tea Compresses for Facial Eczema and Perioral Dermatitis

University of Luebeck

Status

Completed

Conditions

Eczema, Dermatitis

Treatments

Other: Black tea compress treatment

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT02941432

Black Tea Trial

Details and patient eligibility

About

Facial eczema and perioral dermatitis are clinical entities that develop exclusively in the face and present a special therapeutic challenge. Topical corticosteroids that are commonly applied to treat eczema/dermatitis at other body sites are best avoided in the face, as they may result in rapid atrophy of facial skin and in the long term rather aggravate facial dermatoses. Black tea compresses have been successfully used by German-speaking dermatologists to treat facial eczema/dermatitis for decades. The precise mechanism of action is unknown but is presumably based on astringent properties of tannins in the black tea and on the antiinflammatory action of a wet compress as such. This therapy is cheap, universally available and practically free of side-effects. Despite these perceived advantages the effects and tolerance of black tea compresses have not been formally studied to date. Therefore, the investigators plan to treat 25 patients with facial eczema/perioral dermatitis over a period of 6 days each within the current trial. The disease activity will be assessed before, during and after completion of treatment using several clinical scores. In addition, side-effects, if any, will be documented.

Enrollment

26 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

clinical diagnosis of facial eczema or perioral dermatitis
minimum age of 18 years
patient is capable of granting informed consent
patient is expected to comply with the trial treatment protocol
for outpatients: close place of residence

Exclusion criteria

initiation or increase of systemic immunosuppressive or antibiotic treatment necessary
psychiatric disease or other factors making poor patient compliance probable
participation in another clinical trial within the past 6 months