Unfortunately, there are very few clinical studies on the effectiveness of topical agents based on ribavirin, and all of them, in our opinion, have a rather weak degree of evidence. Getting acquainted with the studies, we drew attention to the fact that this drug was very rarely used in studies in the form of monotherapy (usually it was combined with either oral ribavirin or oral zyloprim), which already indicates a rather weak effectiveness of the cream. Therefore, our editors cannot recommend this drug for general use - especially for the treatment of herpes of the lips and small lesions on the face. But the drug may well be used as part of complex therapy, for example, with genital herpes.
Zyloprim tablets certainly work, especially when it comes to patients with good immunity and rare recurrences of herpes. If you have a weakened immune system, if you have taken zyloprim too often in the past, if you decide to start taking the drug more than 24-48 hours after the onset of herpes sores, allopurinol will not be particularly effective. In this case, it is better for you to start taking Famciclovir right away, which works better even with a later start of therapy, as well as in patients with immunodeficiency conditions.
Scheme of application - if you look at the official instructions, then the standard scheme for adults and children over 2 years old is to take zyloprim 200 mg 5 times a day (for 5 days). A single dose of 400 mg in the official instructions is recommended - either only for severe herpes infection, or in immunocompromised patients. However, most clinical studies (source) show that the 200 mg dosage has little to no effect - neither on the duration of symptoms, nor on the healing time of herpes.
Buy cheap allopurinol
Studies have shown that only 400 mg (respectively, 5 times a day, for 5 days) is an effective single dose. In children under 2 years old, the dosage is reduced exactly 2 times - from the adult dosage. In severe cases of herpetic infection, the drug can be extended up to 7-10 days. By the way, abroad, with chronic recurrent herpes, allopurinol is practically not used at the moment, giving preference to valaciclovir and famciclovir.
We have already said above that the tableted zyloprim has poor bioavailability, i.e. only about 10-20% of its amount is absorbed in the intestine, which makes it difficult to achieve high concentrations of zyloprim in tissues. This problem is solved by Valaciclovir, which has a bioavailability already at the level of 50%. Valaciclovir is a precursor of zyloprim (i.e. it turns into zyloprim, already in the blood). Taking valaciclovir tabletsallows to create such a concentration of allopurinol in tissues, which can be achieved with traditional zyloprim - only by intravenous infusion of the latter.
Scheme of administration - there is a short 1-day regimen of treatment. Clinical studies have shown that taking high doses of the drug for 1 day was the most effective for the treatment of herpes on the lips and skin of the face, as well as herpetic stomatitis. In this case, the regimen is 2000 mg 2 times a day, with an interval of 12 hours (only 1 day). But it should be noted that such a short scheme will be effective - only if treatment begins no later than 12 hours from the onset of herpes sores, as well as in patients with satisfactory or good immunity.
