Hormonal Treatments in Hidradenitis Suppurativa: A Systematic Review

This systematic review evaluates the efficacy and safety of hormonal treatments for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), an inflammatory skin condition. The review included 30 articles covering 634 patients from 1952 to 2022. Key hormonal treatments analyzed were anti-androgens like finasteride, spironolactone, and cyproterone acetate, as well as metabolic treatments like metformin. The response rates varied, with finasteride showing improvement in 62.8% of patients, cyproterone acetate in 53.3%, spironolactone in 50.5%, and metformin in 46.0%. The study concludes that these treatments are effective and safe, but emphasizes the need for large-scale randomized controlled trials to better identify which patient populations would benefit most from these therapies.