Evaluation of 25 years of phototherapy for treating psoriasis at a teaching hospital in southern Spain

BACKGROUND: For years, phototherapy has been used in a wide range of skin diseases, which is unsurprising as skin is the anatomical feature most directly exposed to light, especially in psoriasis. Although the role of light therapy has been replaced by different therapeutic modalities in recent years, this treatment is now an established option for many skin diseases. OBJECTIVES: The aim was to characterize the patient population thathad received the aforementioned treatment in the Virgen Macarena Health Area in Seville (Spain) between June 1985 and October 2011. METHODS: We have designed a descriptive study with a univariate analysis covering 443 treatments with light therapy, all administered to the same number of patients suffering from psoriasis. RESULTS: 79.15% of patients were discharged due to improvement or healing, while the 20.85% were discharged due to other reasons. The average total accumulative dose was 131.53 J/cm2. We do not detected an increase in proportion in patients for develop NMSK after light therapy treatment. CONCLUSIONS: We consider that phototherapy is still an effective and efficient treatment that will have to be reconsidered in the current macroeconomic context.