The long-term efficacy of heliotherapy in ameliorating disease severity and improving the quality of life in patients with atopic dermatitis

INTRODUCTION: Atopic dermatitis is one of the most common chronic inflammatory skin diseases adversely affecting the quality of life of both patients and their families. Heliotherapy, a treatment modality with high anti-inflammatory effects, is unjustifiably neglected in a country that has plenty of sunshine days throughout the year, but does not own the Cabinet for artificial phototherapy. AIM: To evaluate the power of individual heliotherapy in ameliorating disease severity and improving the quality of life, as well as to compare the results with those obtained from the studies evaluating group heliotherapies. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We assessed disease severity and quality of life at three times: before commencing heliotherapy (Time 1), immediately after heliotherapy (Time 2), and 3 months after heliotherapy (Time 3). The tools we used are authorized scoring systems and questionnaires: SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD), Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Severity of Pruritus Scale (SPS). RESULTS: A total of 24 patients were analysed in this observational study. Good clinical results were observed with a statistically significant decrease in SCORAD index by 40% and 31.1% at Time 2 and Time 3, respectively (p < 0.001). Improvement in the quality of life was statistically significant showing a decrease in DLQI score by 31.57% 3 months after heliotherapy, comparing to baseline values (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results revealed that 2-week heliotherapy has shown satisfying, long-lasting effects in clearing the skin changes, reducing and ameliorating pruritus intensity, as well as improving the quality of life.