COMMERCIAL TANNING BED TREATMENT IS AN EFFECTIVE PSORIASIS TREATMENT - RESULTS FROM AN UNCONTROLLED CLINICAL-TRIAL

Phototherapy is highly effective in the therapy of psoriasis, but pati ent access to phototherapeutic facilities is not universal, Commercial tanning facilities are universal, but their efficacy in psoriasis tre atment is unestablished. Our purpose was to conduct a study to assess the effect of a commercial tanning unit outfitted with nonprescription lamps on psoriasis, We conducted a 6-wk open study of 20 adult patien ts with stable psoriasis vulgaris. Clinical response was defined as a decrease in the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) or the Self-Admin istered PASI (SAPASI) by greater than or equal to 10%. There were 16 m en and 4 women who participated with a mean (+/- SD) age of 43.0 +/- 1 4.8 y. Initial and final health-related quality of life information co llected included the following instruments: the Brief Symptom Inventor y (BSI), the Psoriasis-Related Stressor Scale (PRSS), and the Psoriasi s Disability Scale (PDS), Side effects of tanning therapy were closely monitored. Fifteen subjects completed the entire 6-wk trial, and exit data on all subjects were used for analysis, The mean number of canni ng sessions was 19 +/- 7.6 with a median of 19 and range of 3 to 29. A nalysis of all 20 enrolled subjects found that 16 (80%) showed clinica l response as measured by PASI, whereas 17 (85%) showed SAPASI respons e, Initial and final PASI scores decreased (p = 0.0001) from 7.96 +/- 1.77 to 5.04 +/- 2.5, and SAPASI scores also decreased (p = 0.02) from 11.8 +/- 4.4 to 7.9 +/- 7.7. When controlled for age and sex, a dose- response relationship was demonstrated with the PASI and SAPASI (p < 0 .02), Decreases in the mean BSI and PRSS scales were demonstrated (p < 0.02), confirming the clinical significance of the reductions in dise ase severity scores, Episodes of mild burning occurred in 7 of 20 (35% ) participants, Three subjects reported itching after one or two tanni ng sessions, This study showed that a tested commercial nonprescriptio n tanning unit improved both psoriasis severity and hearth-related qua lity of life, Commercial tanning bed treatments may be a useful approa ch in patients unable to obtain office-based ultraviolet treatments.