How Does Light Therapy Work For Palmoplantar Psoriasis
is a treatment using hardware techniques for irradiating the skin with ultraviolet waves of various wavelengths in combination or without special preparations.
Ultraviolet light is anti-inflammatory and suppresses excessive immune responses. In turn, this suppression reduces the inflammatory cascade and can help restore the skin to a normal state. The effect of various therapies directly depends on the depth of penetration of the rays into the layers of the skin.
Your body is exposed to ultraviolet light from beams of light tubes that emit either UVA or UVB light in the . Booths come in several designs. Some look like telephone booths and you can stand in them. Others look like solarium and you can lie down during the procedure. The booth will record the total amount of light you were exposed to.
Palmoplantar psoriasis also uses devices that emit ultraviolet light to target specific areas only. To avoid unwanted side effects, during the session, the patient wears special glasses that block ultraviolet light, or a blindfold to protect them from harmful UV rays.
Typically, patients have three to five light therapy sessions per week for 2-3 months. Usually, improvement is seen in 24 weeks, depending on the type of light therapy.
Each persons skin reacts differently to phototherapy, both in how much the symptoms of psoriasis improve and how long the effect lasts. The average remission time is 312 months.
Devices used to treat palmoplantar psoriasis
Talk With Others Who Understand
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Are you using light therapy for your psoriasis? Share your experience in the comments below or start a conversation by posting on MyPsoriasisTeam.
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Regular exposure to UV light increases the risk of skin cancer. There is some evidence that PUVA therapy with psoralen tablets in particular increases the risk of non-melanoma skin cancer. The higher the dose of radiation used and the more light therapy sessions you have, the greater the risk. The risk is also higher in people who have fair skin, people who have had skin cancer in the past, and people who are taking medication to suppress their immune system such as azathioprine, ciclosporin or methotrexate. So these medications shouldn’t be combined with light therapy.
Narrow band UVB phototherapy is probably associated with a lower risk of skin cancer than PUVA therapy using psoralen tablets. But this isn’t yet known for sure because there are hardly any studies on the risk of skin cancer caused by UVB radiation. There is also a lack of good research on the risk of skin cancer associated with PUVA therapy using psoralen that is added to a bath or applied directly to the skin.
To limit the risk of skin cancer, people are advised not to have more than 150 sessions of PUVA therapy using psoralen tablets in their lifetime. A “UV diary” can help you keep track of the number of sessions and type of light therapy you have had, as well as the radiation dose used.
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Deep Dive: What The Research Says
Researchers have given a tentative recommendation for LED-red light as an emerging treatment for psoriasis. Thats because results are promising, but more studies are needed.
A 2017 research review suggested that certain wavelengths of red light work against plaque psoriasis. People with plaque psoriasis were able to clear 60% to 100% of their skin with 2 red light sessions a week for 4 to 5 weeks.
One small 2011 study pitted RLT and blue light therapy against each other. Folks with psoriasis received high doses of light therapy three times a week for 4 weeks. They also applied 10-percent salicylic acid to their plaques during that time.
The conclusion? Both RLT and BLT improved scaly, thickened skin. But the blue light also relieved redness.
Uv Light Therapy For Moderate To Severe Cases
Casey Gallagher, MD, is board-certified in dermatology. He is a clinical professor at the University of Colorado in Denver, and co-founder and practicing dermatologist at the Boulder Valley Center for Dermatology in Colorado.
, also known as UV light therapy, is one of the most effective treatments for psoriasis. It involves exposing the skin to controlled amounts of ultraviolet radiation similar to that from the sun. It is usually prescribed with other treatments when conservative therapies fail to provide relief and is especially useful for moderate to severe psoriasis covering large portions of the body.
Phototherapy is performed in a dermatologist’s office under controlled conditions. Side effects tend to be mild. In addition to psoriasis, phototherapy may also be used to treat eczema, vitiligo, lichen planus, and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
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Red Light Therapy For Treating Eczema And Psoriasis Symptoms
Eczema and psoriasis are some of the most common skin conditions, with over 30 million Americans suffering from eczema, and 8 million with some form of psoriasis. Unfortunately, treating eczema and psoriasis isnt well understood and current solutions arent very effective.
But in more promising news for people who struggle with these skin conditions, recent clinical results are showing that natural can reduce itchiness & redness, improve the appearance of skin rashes & flaking, and decrease inflammation.
This post looks at the positive clinical data that shows how red light therapy can be an effective, non-invasive treatment for eczema and psoriasis, without the risks or side effects of common prescription drugs.
Eczema And Psoriasis Treatment Is Lacking
Eczema refers to a variety of skin-related conditions, while psoriasis is actually a separate and complex autoimmune disease. They are often grouped together because both cause inflamed, itchy skin thats difficult to treat. There are no cures for either eczema or psoriasis, so as with most chronic conditions, management of symptoms is central to treatment.
Many people use ointments and creams, and/or prescription drugs and anti-allergy medications. These have limited effectiveness and often come with unwanted risks and side effects. Now, recent research is showing that red light therapy can help treat and heal psoriasis and eczema.
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If Its So Effective Why Isnt Phototherapy Used More
Although phototherapy is considered a first-line treatment for psoriasis, patients and dermatologists alike report that it is often impractical.
Convenience is a factor, since patients need to visit their doctors office several times a week during business hours. But it can also be expensive for each treatment, most insurance companies charge an office-visit co-pay, which tends to be higher than drug co-pays.
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Who Can Help Me With Light Therapy For Psoriasis
Although many patients begin their search for help with psoriasis with a primary care physician, light therapy is typically administered by a dermatologist who specializes in phototherapy treatment for psoriasis.
No matter whom you visit first, its important to seek help for psoriasis because if its left untreated, symptoms can worsen and cause problems well beyond the skin, such as psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory form of arthritis that develops in about 30 percent of people with psoriasis. The biggest thing is to make sure that you see the doctor and get a diagnosis. Psoriasis can be debilitating, Kaffenberger says.
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Red Light Therapy Helps Heal Psoriasis In Clinical Trials
A 2010 study treated patients with chronic psoriasis, which in most cases had proven resistant to conventional treatments. Researchers treated patients with red light therapy for a four to five week period with follow-ups, and found significant improvements in psoriasis symptoms.
Patients had a 60% to 100% clearance rate with recalcitrant psoriasis. Researchers concluded that satisfaction was universally very high among the psoriasis patients treated with red light.
Another double-blind, randomized study assessed 20 patients with psoriasis. By monitoring two psoriatic plaques on each patient, one treated and one untreated, researchers were able to determine that red light therapy improved psoriasis by reducing redness, hardening, and scaling of the skin.
Light Therapy For Psoriasis: Can It Help
Light therapy, also called phototherapy, is a treatment for psoriasis that consists of exposure to specific wavelengths of light. Light therapy is an effective treatment for moderate to severe psoriasis. Between 50 percent and 90 percent of people with psoriasis who undergo light therapy experience noticeable improvement to their symptoms. In some cases, the symptoms go away entirely.
I’m already in my second month of light therapy. I’ve got a cabin at home so that’s great! wrote a MyPsoriasisTeam member. This therapy really helps me and I’m almost completely clean… 🙂
Unlike tanning beds, phototherapy delivers certain wavelengths measured in nanometers that are therapeutic for psoriasis, while reducing the emission of wavelengths that cause melanomas and other forms of skin cancer. Full-body light therapy can be used to treat psoriasis that affects the whole body. Targeted phototherapy such as excimer laser therapy can help treat plaque psoriasis on specific areas in the body. And unlike traditional or biologic systemic therapies, light therapy does not suppress the body’s immune system.
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What To Discuss With Your Dermatologist
If you use phototherapy to treat psoriasis, your dermatologist will check you after you have had a certain number of treatments, usually four to six in the beginning. These checkups are essential, so be sure to keep all of your appointments.
During these appointments with your dermatologist, you should tell your dermatologist if you have:
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Any side effects
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Worsening psoriasis after phototherapy
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Missed more than two appointments
If you miss appointments, its unlikely that phototherapy will be helpful for you. Research shows that patients see steady improvement only when they receive phototherapy two to five times per week.
ImageImage 1: Photograph used with permission of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2012 66:807-12.
ReferencesAlexis AF, Blackcloud P. Psoriasis in skin of color: epidemiology, genetics, clinical presentation, and treatment nuances. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2014 7:16-24.
Anderson KL, Feldman SR. A guide to prescribing home phototherapy for patients with psoriasis: The appropriate patient, the type of unit, the treatment regimen, and the potential obstacles. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2015 72:868-78.
Lapolla W, Yentzer BA, et al. A review of phototherapy protocols for psoriasis treatment. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2011 64:936-49.
Lim HW, Silpa-archa N, et al. Phototherapy in dermatology: A call for action. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2015 72:1078-80.
All content solely developed by the American Academy of Dermatology
What Is Red Light Therapy
RLT is a form of light therapy that uses light emitting diodes to treat conditions from acne to persistent wounds. Some people with psoriasis undergo light therapy with ultraviolet rays, but RLT doesnt contain any UV rays.
In a hospital setting, when RLT is combined with certain medication, it may be referred to as photodynamic therapy.
You dont necessarily need to see a doctor to test out RLT. There are various consumer products on the market aimed at cosmetic applications. Many tanning salons, like B-Tan Tanning in parts of Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, offer red light beds. These salons say that red light beds help reduce:
- cellulite
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Red & Infrared Light For Psoriasis
A recent study showed that the use of red and infrared LED light therapy is very promising in treating psoriasis. In the study, patients used a combination of near infrared light and red light . Over a period of 4 to 5 weeks, with two 20-minute sessions every 48 hours, clearance rates during the follow up period were 60 to 100 percent. All of the participants were happy with the therapy.
An additional study concludes: Inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis and acne can also be managed. The noninvasive nature and almost complete absence of side effects encourage further testing in dermatology.
Although the research is relatively new regarding the use of red and infrared light therapies for psoriasis, each additional study suggests that the treatments are effective and offer hope of a drug-free option for sufferers of this chronic disease.
Bactericidal Mechanism Of Blue Light
Chromophores are cellular organelles that absorb light. Protoporphyrin IX is a specialized light absorption molecule found in psoriatic skin but not, for example, Group B Streptococcus .
When PpIX is not present, the psoriatic chromophores do not absorb the blue light. Whether PpIX is endogenous or exogenous, it absorbs blue light. Absorption stimulates a reactive oxygen species cascade that results in unwanted cell death.
Sources: PpIX in psoriasis, PpIX not in GBS
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Study : Treated Patch Improved Continuously During Four Weeks Of Treatment
A small number of patients with mild or moderate plaque psoriasis were enrolled in this clinical trial. The goal was to find out whether blue light could safely and effectively treat psoriasis at home.
Heres what the study involved and what the patients saw after four weeks of treating the same patch of psoriasis every day with blue light.
| Number of patients |
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Psoriasis Symptoms And Diagnosis
Psoriasis symptoms vary depending on the type of the disease. The most common variety is plaque psoriasis, which is associated with patchy red bumps on the skin. The psoriasis spots appear in different places. If you dont apply treatment, these patches may grow in size, merge and cover a larger part of the body. In severe cases, plaque psoriasis may cause itching, pain, swelling, and even bleeding.
Diagnosing psoriasis can be a bit tricky because symptoms are very similar to eczema at the beginning stages of the disease. The only reliable way of diagnosing psoriasis is a skin biopsy. The doctor will remove the small tissue from the spots and send it for examination.
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Lab Studies Show Red Light Therapy Improves Eczema And Reduces Itchiness
Red light therapy has also been shown to be beneficial for eczema treatment in numerous laboratory studies, especially when used in conjunction with other treatments. Everything from sophisticated immunosuppressive drugs, to a simple warm water baths have been tested in combo with natural light treatments, with very encouraging results. A 2013 study examined the benefits of light therapy and an immunosuppressive drug. Researchers recorded many benefits for eczema treatment:
- Significantly reduced severity of skin lesions
- Reduced inflammation
- Restored skin barrier
In a similar study conducted by the same principal researcher, the effects of red light combined with a simple hot water bath were examined for eczema. Red light therapy plus a hot bath also reduced inflammation, reduced the development of skin lesions, and suppressed allergic reactions. A 2017 study used SCORAD, a clinical tool that assesses the severity of eczema. Researchers found that light therapy reduced skin thickness, allergy-related cells, and dead cells that had built up in the epidermis. More research on red light and eczema is needed, and trials are currently underway, but the existing base of research is very positive and shows how natural red light therapy can reduce itchiness and inflammation and improve skin lesions for people with eczema. Red light therapy has also been found to be helpful in treating many other skin conditions.
What Happens After My Skin Clears
When you reach your skin healing goals, maintenance therapy is generally recommended by your physician. Maintenance therapy involves a plan to reduce the treatment dose or frequency. The goal here is to lengthen your time in remission, the time free of your skin condition.
If your immune system is still overactive or later becomes overactivefor example, if it’s triggered by stress, illness, trauma, childbirth, or other unpredictable or unknown causessome degree of more active treatment may become necessary. In this case, light therapy dose and frequency is generally increased.
If you notice any changes in your condition, it’s important to discuss those changes with your doctor as soon as you’re aware of them, so you can find out what the best course of action will be to treat your skin.
And, one final note for anyone who has either experienced the ease and convenience of conducting a visit online with a dermatologist or is considering it, the Clarify System is the first at-home light therapy that can be safely prescribed online. Through Clarify’s partnership with DermatologistOnCall, we have had the chance to specially train the providers in the DermatologistOnCall network on the Clarify System.
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Pulsed Dye Laser Treatment And Its Mechanism
PDL is the preferred therapy for most superficial cutaneous vascular lesions. In recent years, it has been used in some clinical researches to treat non-vascular indications, such as psoriasis, acne vulgaris, papulopustular rosacea, hypertrophic scar, and so on . Erceg et al. have reviewed the efficacy of PDL for inflammatory skin disease and concluded that PDL is an effective and safe method to treat localized plaque psoriasis. In accordance with this, a prospective randomized controlled study was performed to compare the efficacy of PDL with UVB-TL01 in plaque psoriasis. PDL parameters used were 585 nm, a pulse duration of 0.45 ms, and a spot size of 7 mm with spot overlapping about 20% at fluencies 5.56.5 J/cm2 for a total of four treatments at an interval of 3 weeks between two treatments. Improvement of psoriasis lesions was noted at the 13th week, yet with no significant differences between PDL and UVB . A within-patient controlled prospective trial of treatment of localized plaque psoriasis with excimer and PDL showed that excimer and PDL were useful treatments for plaque psoriasis with long-term remission, but psoriasis severity index improvement was significantly greater in excimer than PDL . Studies of PDL in psoriasis also reported low clearance rate, which could be improved by applying keratolytics with salicylic acid on psoriatic plaques before PDL treatment .