BACKGROUND Bath-PUVA-photochemotherapy has become a useful alternative to oral PUVA therapy due to a number of advantages over systemic PUVA, for example, no ophthalmologic risk and nausea, and a lower cumulative UVA doses. However, its major disadvantage is the logistical requirement for bath tubs in practice and some patients feel uncomfortable to share the same bath with others. Topical psor...

It has been suggested that trioxsalen bath and ultraviolet (UV) A (PUVA) is associated with a very low or no risk of non-melanoma skin cancer, but the numbers of patients in individual studies have been limited. In order to attain statistically relevant information about the cancer risk associated with trioxsalen bath PUVA, two follow-up studies were combined and the joined cancer incidence was...

Psoralen photochemotherapy [psoralen ultraviolet A (PUVA)] plays an important part in dermatological therapeutics, being an effective and generally safe treatment for psoriasis and other dermatoses. In order to maintain optimal efficacy and safety, guidelines concerning best practice should be available to operators and supervisors. The British Photodermatology Group (BPG) have previously publi...

Psoriasis is a cutaneous disease as well systemic chronic inflammatory that closely associated with multiple comorbidities, such cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. Recently developed treatment modalities are highly effective for psoriasis skin lesions. The greater the extent of body surface area affected, more prone patient to psoriatic arthritis inflammation. Therefore,...

In patients with severe chronic atopic dermatitis (AD), both photochemotherapy [psoralen ultraviolet A (PUVA)] and narrow-band (TL-01) UV B phototherapy have been reported to be very effective. As no data exist on the relative therapeutic efficacy of these two regimens, we performed a randomized investigator-blinded half-side comparison study on 12 patients with severe chronic AD. Half-side irr...

Background: Palmoplantar eczema is a common clinical problem involving 2% of the population. There are many treatment modalities for palmoplantar eczema, each with specific local and systemic side effects. Objective: To evaluate methoxsalen bath in the treatment of palmoplantar eczema. Patients and Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial, 60 patients with palmo...

BACKGROUND Localized scleroderma (LS) comprises a spectrum of sclerotic autoimmune diseases primarily affecting the dermis. Various treatment modalities have been recommended for the management of LS, but only a few studies exist regarding the efficacy of bath PUVA photochemotherapy in the treatment of LS. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy of bath PUVA photochemotherapy in the management of...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of iontophoresis combined with local psoralen plus ultraviolet A (PUVA) therapy in chronic foot eczema. A randomized, observer-blinded, multi-centre study was conducted in 48 patients with chronic moderate-to-severe foot eczema randomized to one of 3 groups: In the iontophoresis group local bath-PUVA was preceded by iontophoresis. In the PUVA ...

Psoriasis is characterized by alterations in both the epidermis and dermis of the skin. Epidermal keratinocytes display marked proliferative activation and differentiate along an "alternate" or "regenerative" pathway, while the dermis becomes infiltrated with leukocytes, particularly interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptor-bearing "activated" T cells. Psoralens, administered by the oral route, have thera...