Pityriasis lichenoides (PL) is an uncommon cutaneous disorder. Oral
erythromycin is proposed to be effective in treating the disease. Here, we reported 16 pediatric patients with PL and systematically reviewed published literatures on
erythromycin treatment response in pediatric PL patients, to observe the different treatment response to
erythromycin in the
pityriasis lichenoides chronica (PLC) and the
pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta (PLEVA) groups. Sixteen patients, 8 with PLC and 8 with PLEVA, were treated with
erythromycin. In the PLC group, 25% (n = 2) patients responded to
erythromycin, while in the PLEVA group, 87.5% (n = 7) patients responded to
erythromycin. The response rate was higher in the PLEVA group than the PLC group (P =.05). No side effect was reported in the 16 patients. A total of 34 children including 16 from our studies were included for further descriptive analysis, in which 12 had PLC and 22 had PLEVA. In the PLC group, 41.7% (n = 5) of patients responded to
erythromycin while in the PLEVA group, 90.9 % (n = 20) of patients responded. The response rate was higher in the PLEVA group than the PLC group (P = .004). In conclusion,
erythromycin is effective and safe in the treatment of children with PL, and
erythromycin was more effective in patients with PLEVA than PLC.