Effects of isotretinoin on the olfactory function in patients with acne

Background: isotretinoin is a synthetic analog of vitamin a. recent studies support a role for retinoic acid in the recovery of olfactory function following injury in mice. objective: this study aimed at determining the effect of isotretinoin on olfactory function in patients who have acne and are otherwise healthy. methods: forty-five patients (aged 25-40 years) with acne were included in the study. all patients underwent a rhinological examination. olfactory function was assessed by the sniffin’ sticks test. the test was assessed at baseline and in the third month of isotretinoin treatment. results: isotretinoin improved the performance of patients in the olfactory test. the sst score increased from 8.7±1.09 to 9.5±1.19 (p<0.001),prevalence of hyposmia decreased from 40% to 24% and normosmia increased from 60% to 75% (p=0.059). the percentage of patients whose olfactory function was categorized as “good” increased from 6% to 21.3%. this increase was statistically significant (p<0.05). study limitations: absence of a control group is one of the limitations of this study. also,we did not evaluate patients with smell test after stopping isotretinoin treatment. conclusion: we examined the effect of systemic isotretinoin on olfactory function. it can be concluded from the present investigation that isotretinoin therapy improves the sense of smell. © 2017 by anais brasileiros de dermatologia.