SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF CHRONIC DISCOID L UPUS-ERYTHEMATOSUS WITH ARGON-LASER

We report on a patient with chronic discoid lupus erythematosus who wa s treated with argon-laser, The patient suffered from long-standing le sions and had been pretreated with various drugs, with no or slight im provement, After a few argon-laser applications, the treated skin lesi ons improved dramatically while the untreated lesional skin showed con tinuous disease activity. Histological and immunohistological investig ations of biopsies from treated and untreated lesional skin suggest th at endothelial mechanisms play a role in the generation and maintenanc e of discoid lesions in lupus erythematosus. This is the first reporte d case of successful treatment of chronic discoid skin lesions of a lu pus erythematosus patient with argon-laser.