Acne is a common polymorphic multifactorial inflammatory disease represented by various clinical forms. The incidence of acne is 85–93% of population. Moreover, the incidence of post-pubertal and persistent adult acne tend to increase. The choice of methods of acne treatment is based on adequate clinical evaluation of disease severity, nature of rash, skin type, presence of comorbidities, and patient’s age. Topical therapy is an essential component of the complex therapy of acne patients. The use of drug combinations in the treatment of acne is of great interest to achieve consistent results and improve patients’ adherence to therapy. Drug combinations affect larger number of pathogenic factors of acne development (excessive follicular hyperkeratosis, reproduction of P. acnes, and inflammation). Objective. The objective of this study is to review the literature on modern aspects of topical treatment of acne, including combination therapy with azelaic acid and clindamycin. Material and methods. The study was carried out at Kursk State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Results. Russian and international authors widely use combined therapeutic regimens including topical administration of azelaic acid and clindamycin. According to Russian researchers, azelaic acid can be used in combination with both topical antibiotics (where antibiotic is applied pointwise on pustules once a day) and adapalene. The results of this clinical study have shown that the use of 15% azelaic acid gel (Azelik) in the combined topical therapy reduces side effects observed in the case of monotherapy with topical retinoids and improves therapeutic efficacy when used in combination with antibacterial drugs. Conclusion. The reported practical experience and options of combination therapy including 15% azelaic acid gel (Azelik) and 1% clindamycin gel (Klindovit) will enable dermatologists to treat acne in various groups of patients and improve treatment efficiency, providing longer remission of the inflammatory process.
