Table 1.

Main demographic and clinical features of the 30 studied subjects treated with 4% niacinamide, 0.05% retinoic acid, or placebo over 8 weeks.

	4% Niacinamide group (n=10)	0.05% Retinoic acid group (n=10)	Placebo group (n=10)
Age (year; mean ± SD)	25 ± 3.3	28 ± 3.2	26 ± 1.5
Skin phototype n (%)
IV	1 (10)	1 (10)	2 (20)
V	9 (90)	9 (90)	8 (80)
Duration of melasma (yr), mean ± SD	5.3 ± 3.3	3.8 ± 4.2	4.2 ± 4.3
Family history, n (%)	4 (40)	4 (40)	6 (60)
Occupation n (%)
Housewife	10 (100)	10 (100)	7 (70)
Indoor worker	-	-	3 (30)
Predisposing factors, n (%)
Sun exposure	10 (100)	10 (100)	10 (100)
Pregnancy	-	-	-
Oral intake of hormones	-	-	-
Artificial sources of radiation	2 (20)	-	3 (30)

There were no significant differences in age, skin phototypes, melasma duration, and other clinical features among groups.