001 UVA‐1 for the treatment of chronic hand dermatitis

Abstract

UVA-1 has distinct immunological effects which has allowed it to be useful for a number of cutaneous diseases that have been relatively resistant to other treatment modalities. These include urticaria pigmentosa, morphea/scleroderma and T-cell mediated diseases such as atopic dermatitis and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Since chronic hand dermatitis is also mediated by T-cells, we hypothesized that UVA- 1 would be an effective treatment for that disease as well. Five subjects with recalcitrant hand dermatitis caused by dyshidrosis and/or chronic irritancy were treated with a medium dose regimen of UVA- 1. This consisted of 15 treatments of 60 J/cm2 UVA 1 over 3 weeks. Subjects received a total of 900 J/cm2. A clinical scoring parameter, Dyshidrotic Area and Seventy Index Score (DASI), was administered to subjects prior to and following the UVA- 1 treatment course. Clinical photographs were also taken. All subjects showed improvement in hand dermatitis as demonstrated by clinical photographs and the DASI score (13 ± 5.35 before treatment; 6.3 ± 4.50 after treatment). UVA- 1 is an effective and rapid acting treatment for chronic hand dermatitis.