CALCITRIOL OINTMENT IN THE TREATMENT OF FACIAL, HAIRLINE AND RETROAURICULAR CHRONIC PLAQUE PSORIASIS

Psoriatic lesions on the face can be particularly distressing for pati ents as they are clearly visible and difficult to hide or disguise, Th e treatment of such lesions is also problematic as many of the most wi dely used agents, such as topical corticosteroids, cannot be used rout inely on facial skin, Local and systemic safety, tolerability and effi cacy of twice daily application of 3 mu g/g calcitriol ointment in the treatment of moderate to severe facial, hairline and retroauricular c hronic plaque psoriasis were assessed in an open study in ten patients , The duration of treatment was 6 weeks, The treatment was well tolera ted, and no serious adverse events occurred, One patient had a transie nt mild skin irritation reaction and transient moderate hair loss, and another patient had transient mild seborrhoeic dermatitis near the ri ght nose fold, In the baseline/endpoint comparison no statistically si gnificant changes were observed in the mean values of serum total calc ium, serum albumin-adjusted total calcium, serum phosphorus, plasma ca lcitriol and 24-h urinary calcium and phosphorus excretion, Twice dail y applications of 3 mu g/g calcitriol ointment appeared to be very eff ective in the treatment of moderate to severe facial, hairline and ret roauricular chronic psoriatic plaques, The treatment resulted in stati stically significant reductions in the severity of the skin symptoms ( scaling, erythema, induration, pruritus and overall severity), At the end of the treatment period all patients showed improvement of psoriat ic plaques: clearance of plaques was observed in 40% of patients, cons iderable or definite improvement in 50% and minimal improvement in 10% , In addition, cosmetic acceptability of the calcitriol ointment was j udged to be good, The results of this study indicate that twice daily use of 3 mu g/g calcitriol ointment is safe, effective and well tolera ted in the treatment of facial, hairline and retroauricular chronic pl aque psoriasis.