Dealing with Psoriasis

The overkill of advertisements makes the "heartbreak of psoriasis" sound like something of a joke. But psoriasis is no laughing matter to those who are afflicted by it. The disease, which may result from a genetic defect, causes red, scaly eruptions--mainly on the scalp, elbows, knees, back and buttocks --and untold misery to its victims. In the U.S. alone, some 5 to 8 million psoriasis sufferers spend an estimated $1 billion a year in their search for relief.

Patent medicines generally are not adequate. Patients whose scaling clears up after long, messy and expensive hospital treatments may find that the disease comes back as soon as they return home. Now genuine relief may be at last in sight. Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston announced last week that they and an Austrian co-worker have combined an ancient drug with modern technology to produce a treatment that can not only clear up psoriasis in a month but help keep it from recurring.

Telephone Booth. Early Egyptian and Indian sufferers treated certain skin diseases with some success by swallowing a powder made from a local plant and exposing themselves to sunlight.

Dermatologists at M.G.H. and the All-gemeines Krankenhausen in Vienna have modernized that technique. The new treatment combines the use of a drug called methoxsalen, which is extracted from the Egyptian plant, and an extraordinary high-intensity ultraviolet light. First the dermatologists have the patient swallow methoxsalen pills. Then they stand him in a telephone-booth-size closet lined with 48 of the special ultraviolet tubes. The patient stays in the booth from eight to 30 minutes, depending upon his degree of skin coloration.

Because it requires special equipment and special precautions, the new treatment will not be generally available for at least a year. But it is extremely promising. Of the 50 patients treated in Boston and 35 treated in Vienna, all had their psoriasis problems relieved after about a dozen sessions. They also got nicely tanned.

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