Table 4.
Efficacy of urea for the treatment of onychomycosis
| Medicament/s | Chemical avulsion | Clinical improvement | Clinical cure | Mycological cure | Complete cure (clinical + mycological) | Adverse effects | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bassiri -Jahromi et al. 2012 [30] | 40% urea with 1% fluconazole cream (urea in combination) | 77.1% | 82.8% | 1 (of 70) reported mild irritation | |||
| 1% fluconazole cream | 68% | 62.8% | |||||
| Lahfa et al. 2013 [31] | 40% urea then 1% bifonazole cream (urea as adjunct) | 86.3% | 40.4% | 42.6% | 27.7% | 94.1% tolerability | |
| 40% urea with 1% bifonazole cream (urea in combination) | 60.8% | 29.2% | 58.3% | 20.8% | |||
| Bunyaratavej at al. 2016 [32] | 40% urea | 48% | 20% | 32% | 20% | NR | |
| 5% amorolfine lacquer | 85.7% | 50% | 89.3% | 50% | |||
| Fraki et al. 1997 [33] | 40% urea for 1 week then 150 mg fluconazole (urea as adjunct) | 71% | 69% | ||||
| 150 mg fluconazole | 51% | 84% | |||||
| Escalante et al. 2013 [34] | 40% urea | 7% | 8.3% | 3 of 12 reported periungual maceration. 1 of 12 reported onychocryptosis | |||
| 250 mg terbinafine | 43% | 8% | |||||
| 40% urea and 250 mg terbinafine (urea in combination) | 50% | 57% | |||||
| Baran and Tosti 2002 [35] | 40% urea | 100% | Nil adverse effects reported |