Acne.org ProductsThe following side effects are expected to occur in the first few weeks of treatment and resolve with continued use of clindamycin. Contact your doctor if these symptoms are severe and/or do not go away:
How Common (based on clinical studies)
| Redness and/or warmth in the area | Up to 28% of all users |
| Dryness of skin | Up to 23% of all users |
| Itching | Up to 18.2% of all users |
| Increased skin oiliness | Up to 15% of all users |
| Burning, stinging, or tingling sensation | Up to 11% of all users |
| Skin peeling or scaling | Up to 11% of all users |
| Local reaction at application site | Up to 7.7% of all users |
| Crusting of skin | Up to 7.5% of all users |
| Irritation of the skin with peeling | Up to 5.1% of all users |
| Pain at application site | Up to 0.4% of all users |
| Erosion of skin (loss of epidermal layer) | Up to 0.2% of all users |
| Swelling in the area | Up to 0.2% of all users |
| Increase in new pimples | Unknown |
| Headache | Unknown |
Clindamycin may cause some side effects that are serious. If you experience any of the following, contact your doctor immediately or seek emergency medical treatment:
- Abdominal cramps
- Diarrhea or watery stools
- Blood in stools
Clindamycin may also cause other side effects that are not mentioned here. Contact your doctor if you experience any other troublesome symptoms when using clindamycin.
References
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- Cunliffe WJ, Holland KT, Bojar R, and Levy SF. A randomized, double-blind comparison of a clindamycin phosphate/benzoyl peroxide gel formulation and a matching clindamycin gel with respect to microbiologic activity and clinical efficacy in the topical treatment of acne vulgaris. Clin Ther. 24(7), 1117-33 (2002).
- Lookingbill DP, Chalker DK, Lindholm JS, Katz HI, Kempers SE, Huerter CJ, Swinehart JM, Schelling DJ, and Klauda HC. Treatment of acne with a combination clindamycin/benzoyl peroxide gel compared with clindamycin gel, benzoyl peroxide gel and vehicle gel: combined results of two double-blind investigations. J Am Acad Dermatol. 37(4), 590-5 (1997).
- Shalita AR, Myers JA, Krochmal L, Yaroshinsky A; Clindamycin Foam Study Group. The safety and efficacy of clindamycin phosphate foam 1% versus clindamycin phosphate topical gel 1% for the treatment of acne vulgaris. J Drugs Dermatol. 4(1), 48-56 (2005).
- Mokhtari F, Faghihi G, Basiri A, Farhadi S, Nilforoushzadeh M, and Behfar S. Comparison effect of azithromycin gel 2% with clindamycin gel 1% in patients with acne. Adv Biomed Res. 5:72 (2016).
- Khodaeiani E, Fouladi RF, Amirnia M, Saeidi M, and Karimi ER. Topical 4% nicotinamide vs. 1% clindamycin in moderate inflammatory acne vulgaris. Int J Dermatol. 52(8), 999-1004 (2013).
- Wolf JE Jr, Kaplan D, Kraus SJ, Loven KH, Rist T, Swinyer LJ, Baker MD, Liu YS, and Czernielewski J. Efficacy and tolerability of combined topical treatment of acne vulgaris with adapalene and clindamycin: a multicenter, randomized, investigator-blinded study. J Am Acad Dermatol. 49(3 Suppl), S211-7 (2003).
- Xu JH, Lu QJ, Huang JH, Hao F, Sun QN, Fang H, Gu J, Dong XQ, Zheng J, Luo D, Li FQ, Wang G, Gu H, Tian HQ, Yang HL, Xi LY, Li M, Zheng M, Wu Y, Tu YT, He YL, Zhao G, Sheng WX, Li J, and Hamedani AG. A multicentre, randomized, single-blind comparison of topical clindamycin 1%/benzoyl peroxide 5% once-daily gel versus clindamycin 1% twice-daily gel in the treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris in Chinese patients. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 30(7), 1176-82 (2016).
- Zouboulis CC, Derumeaux L, Decroix J, Maciejewska-Udziela B, Cambazard F, and Stuhlert A. A multicentre, single-blind, randomized comparison of a fixed clindamycin phosphate/tretinoin gel formulation (Velac) applied once daily and a clindamycin lotion formulation (Dalacin T) applied twice daily in the topical treatment of acne vulgaris. Br J Dermatol. 143(3), 498-505 (2000).
- DailyMed. Clindamycin. Available from: https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/search.cfm?labeltype=all&query=CLINDAMYCIN&pagesize=20&page=1. Cited 26 Oct. 2024.
- Pelet Del Toro NM, Strunk A, Wu JJ, Stein Gold L, Del Rosso JQ, Brodell RT, Han G. Topical clindamycin for acne vulgaris: analysis of gastrointestinal events. J Dermatolog Treat. 35(1), 2325603 (2024).
- Noaimi A, Al-Saadi SR. Treatment of Acne Vulgaris by Topical Spironolactone Solution Compared With Clindamycin Solution. Cureus. 13(8), e17606 (2021).