PSORALEN BATH PLUS UV-A THERAPY - POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS

Oral psoralen plus UV-A (PUVA) therapy was originally developed for th e treatment of vitiligo.(1,2) With the introduction of potent UV-A irr adiation sources between 1972 and 1974, UV-A irradiation following pso ralen application was found to be a highly efficient therapy for psori asis.(3-5) The acronym PUVA was created and the potential use of PUVA was investigated in a large spectrum of different inflammatory and neo plastic skin diseases.(6-8) Psoralen plus UV-A has profoundly influenc ed the therapeutic concepts of dermatology, as demonstrated in the rec ent review by Honig et al.(8) An alternative approach, psoralen bath p lus UV-A therapy (PUVA bath therapy) that avoids the adverse effects a ssociated with oral PUVA therapy has increasingly been used during rec ent years. Psoralen bath plus UV-A therapy is not simply a technical v ariant of photochemotherapy; it is obviously superior to oral PUVA, at least for some indications, and it has considerably enlarged the spec trum of diseases responsive to photochemotherapy.