CONTEXT Each year tens of thousands of patients in the United States are treated with UV-B radiation or psoralen plus UV-A radiation (PUVA) for a variety of skin disorders. Although PUVA is generally considered more effective, it is also more toxic and more expensive. The degree of consensus among experts in prescribing these alternative treatments has not been quantified. OBJECTIVES To quant...

445 Letters to the Editor Sir, Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is described as effective and safe in the treatment of erythrodermic cu-taneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) (1). It is thought that ECP acts mainly through the induction of apoptotic cell death in leukocytes; this apoptotic cell death may cause subclinical immunosuppression. Actinically derived squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are usuall...

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by excessive fibrosis and microvascular damage to the skin and various internal organs, including the lungs, kidneys, oesophagus and heart. Raynaud’s phenomenon is an almost universal symptom of SSc; 95% of patients are affected. Digital ulcers are observed frequently, especially in intractable cases with severe Raynaud’s phenom...

Case Report A 53-year-old male anaesthetist with a widespread, histologically proven psoriasis vulgaris was treated with oral photochemotherapy (PUVA) after failure of multiple intensive topical treatments and poor response to UVA-UVB phototherapy. PUVA was begun according to our standard protocol: 2 h after oral administration of 5-MOP 100 mg (Geralen , 1.2 mg/kg body weight), the patient was ...

Case Report A 53-year-old male anaesthetist with a widespread, histologically proven psoriasis vulgaris was treated with oral photochemotherapy (PUVA) after failure of multiple intensive topical treatments and poor response to UVA-UVB phototherapy. PUVA was begun according to our standard protocol: 2 h after oral administration of 5-MOP 100 mg (Geralen , 1.2 mg/kg body weight), the patient was ...

BACKGROUND Dihydroxyacetone (DHA), a colorless sugar in "sunless" tanning lotions, binds to stratum corneum to form a UV-A-protective brown pigment. Bound DHA polymer is shed faster from hyperproliferative skin sites such as psoriatic plaques. We tested the hypothesis that selective shedding of DHA pigment during psoralen-UV-A (PUVA) treatment of psoriasis may allow higher UV-A doses, thus acce...

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...

mucinous material in the dermis. As regards therapy, LM is very dif® cult to treat. Various agents have been tried, including melphalan, prednisone, cyclophosphamide, clorambucil, radiation, PUVA, plasma exchange, 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine, isotretinoin, photophoresis and interferon-a. None of these agents has been universally effective and many are associated with signi® cant toxicity. Our patien...

Background: Due to the chronic nature of atopic dermatitis and dependence of most patients to steroids, finding a suitable alternative treatment is important. Objectives: To determine the efficacy of phototherapy in treatment of atopic dermatitis, also to evaluate possible influencing factors in response of patients to psoralen+UVA (PUVA) therapy. Patients and Methods: 13 patients with resistan...