THERMOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF PSORIASIC PLAQUES

Thermography was used to quantify erythema in psoriasic plaques in a g roup of ten patients before and after treatment with acitretin. Thermo graphically, when compared to the surrounding normal skin, the sites o f psoriasic plaques appeared as hot areas. There was a good correlatio n In postreatment thermography between the clinical assessment of the plaque and the thermographic parameter. Nine of the plaques in the pre treatment assessment presented a hot area that evaded the visible limi t of the lesion and this area had disappeared in the plaques with part ial or complete remission after treatment but not in the one that show ed no improvement. Thermography is a non-invasive technique that, appa rently, could be used to assess lesional activity in psoriasic plaques .