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The influence of psoriatic plaques pretreatment with crude coal tar vs. petrolatum on the efficacy of narrow‐band ultraviolet B: a half‐vs.‐half intra‐individual double‐blinded comparative study
Author(s) -
Abdallah Marwa A.,
ElKhateeb Ekramy Ahmed,
AbdelRahman Shereen H.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
photodermatology, photoimmunology and photomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.736
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1600-0781
pISSN - 0905-4383
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0781.2011.00602.x
Subject(s) - coal tar , dermatology , ultraviolet b , tar (computing) , ultraviolet , medicine , ultraviolet a , materials science , chemistry , coal , organic chemistry , optoelectronics , computer science , programming language
Background/purpose: The value of psoriatic plaques pretreatment with specific topical preparations in the setting of NB‐ultraviolet‐B (UVB) therapy is debatable. It may be clarified through a comparative assessment between crude coal tar and petrolatum as pretreatment candidates. Methods: A prospective study included 40 patients with plaque psoriasis undergoing NB‐UVB therapy. We compared among three treatment regimens: NB‐UVB alone (control group; n =20) as well as NB‐UVB preceded by crude coal tar 3% on one side and petrolatum on the other side (cases group I and II; n =20). Tar and petrolatum were topically applied thrice/day the day before NB‐UVB exposure. Applications were removed using olive oil directly before NB‐UVB exposure. Regimens' frequency was thrice/week and the clinical outcome was assessed, through both psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) and physician global assessment (PGA) scores, at baseline and 3 months later. Results: There were significant ( P <0.01) decreases in both PASI and PGA scores in all the groups. In comparison with the controls, cases revealed significantly ( P <0.05) higher improvement percentages in both PASI and PGA scores for both tar and petrolatum. This influence, through the PGA score, was significantly ( P <0.05) in favor of petrolatum. Conclusion: The pretreatment of psoriatic plaques with either petrolatum or crude coal tar may enhance the therapeutic outcome of NB‐UVB, which appeared to favor petrolatum.