Published 7 May 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b607
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b607

Editorials

Home UVB phototherapy for psoriasis

Is as safe and effective as outpatient treatment, but provision is poor

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory skin condition that causes substantial disability in affected people and their families. In the linked randomised controlled trial (doi:10.1136/bmj.b1542), Koek and colleagues assess whether home ultraviolet B (UVB) phototherapy is as safe and effective for psoriasis as conventional UVB phototherapy given in the outpatient department.¹

UVB has been used to treat psoriasis for more than 75 years, initially in combination with crude coal tar,² and later as monotherapy.³ UVB has been the phototherapy of choice for psoriasis since it was found to be less carcinogenic than PUVA (psoralen plus ultraviolet A phototherapy),⁴ and since the development in the late 1980s of a highly efficacious UVB lamp, termed "narrow band UVB."⁵

Patients taking a course of UVB treatment usually attend their local dermatology unit three times each week for eight to 10 weeks. In many cases this leads to complete or almost complete . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Department of Dermatology, Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport NP20 2UB

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• (2009). Home Phototherapy: An Overlooked Option for Psoriasis. Journal Watch Dermatology 2009: 1-1 [Full text]  
• Cameron, H., Dawe, R. (2009). Narrowband UVB phototherapy. BMJ 338: b2213-b2213 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

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A long overdue development.

Steven Ford
bmj.com, 4 Jun 2009 [Full text]

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