Supervised four/week heliotherapy alleviates the long/term course of psoriasis.

Abstract

The long/term effects of psoriasis heliotherapy were studied in a randomized cross/over trial with a 2/year follow/up. We allocated 95 patients randomly to receive a 4/week heliotherapy course, either at the onset or in the middle of the follow/up period. After a highly significant immediate alleviation of psoriasis about 50% of the patients still had a reduction of psoriasis 6 months later and about 25% one year later. A favourable carry/over treatment effect was still observed during the second follow/up year. Taking advantage of the cross/over design, the effect of heliotherapy was calculated to be statistically significant during the first follow/up year, and the apparent long/term alleviation of psoriasis after the heliotherapy was reflected in a significant period effect. The alleviation of psoriasis was accompanied by a significant decrease in the use of antipsoriatic treatments.