Tazarotene and adapalene are recently introduced topical retinoids that are useful in the treatment of acne vulgaris. The clinical benefits of each drug have now been compared in a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, parallel-group study involving 164 patients with mild-to-moderate facial acne vulgaris. Patients were randomized to receive 15 weeks' treatment with alternate-day tazarotene 0.1% gel, with vehicle gel on the intervening evenings, or once-daily adapalene 0.1% gel. Both regimens were comparably effective with no significant between-group differences in efficacy measures. A total of 74% of tazarotene-treated subjects and 73% of adapalene-treated subjects achieved at least a 50% improvement in their acne. In addition, there were no clinically significant differences in tolerability. It is concluded that an alternate-day tazarotene regimen offers efficacy and thus tazarotene treatment can be useful even in patients whose compliance may be suboptimal. An alternate-day regimen also offers the potential for considerable savings in drug costs.