Phototherapy in the News

Drinking beer can DOUBLE the risk for psoriasis in Women
August 18th, 2010 A rather large study (80,000 nurses over 15 years) has shown that women who drink five or more REGULAR beers a week may DOUBLE their risk for developing psoriasis.

Other types of alcohol (including light beers) do not show any effect on psoriasis development. They now need to figure out what it is about regular beer that is adversely increasing the risk of psoriasis, and why this connection appears to be gender-specific. The fact that the study only included female nurses might have something to do with this, but there's no telling… yet.

Read the full article...

UVBioTek™ Systems Reduce the Cost of Treating Psoriasis by the Millions
January 20th, 2010 A recent (1/18/2010) article published in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) showed that the costs of brand-name treatments for psoriasis rose by an average of 66% between 2000 and 2008!

Average annual phototherapy costs ranged from $3,083 to $7,288, while biologic therapies ranged from $18,284 to $27,577 annually.

To put that into perspective, the lowest average amount paid annually for biologic treatments is roughly three times the cost of a 16-lamp UVBioTek™ home phototherapy system… a one-time expense that provides a lifetime of effective treatments – compared with $20K-$30K every year for biologic therapies.

For those few people for whom phototherapy is ineffective, or just not effective enough, biologics are virtual "miracle drugs" where the benefits almost outweigh the rather sizable risks for internal organ damage, cancer and other systemic side effects. But when phototherapy can be used instead, a home system would save over a quarter of a million dollars for each and every patient after just ten years!!

That article can be found here: Science Daily (1/20/2010)

Interestingly, the Archives of Dermatology has also summarized the very same article, with one notable exception; they removed all references to phototherapy! Ask your dermatologist whose interests they have in mind; yours or their pharmaceutical rep's… These numbers seem to point in the wrong direction.

Psoriasis may be a systemic disease…
According to experts at the Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource has announced that psoriasis may be related to arthritis and cardiovascular disease, and that the underlying link between such conditions might be chronic inflammation.

While this may not seem like news, since it has long been suspected that such a connection exists, this is one of the first published articles to make such a direct claim from a scientific view. According to the article, ultraviolet light (UV or UVB) slows the rapid growth of skin cells… sometimes used alone, or in combination with other treatments.

Plenty of UVBioTek™ customers are able to back up this "discovery", as they have successfully been treating their psoriasis systemically through full body UVB exposure alone.

Read the article here...

US Congress approves $1.5M for psoriasis patient registry
It has been known for a long time a major factors in developing psoriasis is genetic; in other words, you don’t get psoriasis from anyone other than your parents (you’re either born with psoriasis or you’re not.) Many people have psoriasis without even knowing it, because nothing has triggered their condition into flaring… so far.

So, how can anyone know if they have psoriasis without actually having a flare-up? Right now, you can’t. But if a genetic "marker" can be found to be associated with psoriatic patients, people could take a simple test to determine if they carry the genes associated with psoriasis, and could potentially take preventative measures to minimize the chances of their psoriasis manifesting itself.

There is no way to analyze these genes without having a genetic samples to work with. Toward this goal, since 2005 the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) has been collecting DNA samples for the "National Psoriasis Victor Henschel BioBank"; a part of the "Genetic Alliance Biobank", which is a centralized repository for collecting, storing and distributing biological samples for research. This has been funded through donations for the last 5-6 years, and now it appears that the US Government is starting to take it more seriously.

By approving $1.5M for the CDC to create a psoriasis patient registry, they can begin collecting genetic samples of people who do suffer with psoriasis (the NPF has been collecting both psoriatic and non-psoriatic samples, but the CDC will only be looking for psoriatic samples).

The creation of CDC patient registries for other chronic conditions have been credited with improving treatments by up to 50% by allowing researchers to look for critical patterns in treatments and results. The NPF was instrumental in this development, after much lobbying and over 3,000 messages from NPF members and supporters sent to their elected officials requesting an increase in the government’s psoriasis research… it seems they made their point.

Read the full article here...

The true cost of ‘Biological’ medications…
The use of ‘biological’ medications such as Enbrel®, Humira, Raptiva® and others have been used to treat psoriasis at a phenomenal rate . In 2008, the entire psoriasis market represented ~$2.5 billion. 55%, or $1.4 billion was spent on biological meds alone.

Aside from the known risks these medications present for cancer and other serious side effects, a large percentage of those patients would likely see better results with phototherapy and without increasing the hazards associated with biological medications. Many patients find that they can get and stay clear with phototherapy alone, without using the expensive and potentially risky biological medications. Sadly, too many dermatologists are prescribing biologicals without ever seeing if phototherapy would be effective first.

The cost of a home narrowband (nbUVB) system is often less than a single month’s worth of biological meds, yet it will provide a time-tested, virtually side-effect free therapy for decades with no additional costs to the patient OR the insurers. Instead, more than half of all the money spent in treating psoriasis is going to the pharmaceutical companies on a regular, routine schedule. This ensures a steady revenue stream, but at the expense of the patient’s best interests.

If just half of the patients who used biological meds in 2008 had instead purchased home nbUVB systems, it could have reduced the overall amount of money spent on psoriasis by a billion dollars annually… while providing more patients with more satisfying, trouble-free results.

Find the reference here...


Is psoriasis a genetic problem?
It has long been considered that psoriasis has a genetic component. What that means is there might be something in your DNA that makes it more likely that you could develop psoriasis. There are several specific DNA abnormalities that have been linked with various conditions, and it now looks like psoriasis may be added to the list.

A report from the University of Utah has found a genetic variation that "stands alone as a high risk for psoriasis". This genetic variation, called HLA-Cw*0602, appears to be a major factor in developing psoriasis. Just as there are many forms of psoriasis there are almost certainly various other genetic variations that determine how psoriasis might manifest itself in any particular individual, but this is a big step forward.

Gene Variation Is a ‘Major Genetic Determinant of Psoriasis.’ Read the article here...


Child & Teen Cancers Linked to Biological Meds
The FDA has issued a warning that TNF blockers (including Enbrel®, Humira, Remicade and others) may cause lymphoma, leukemia and other cancers in children and teens. This is in addition to the "black box" cancer warning such medications already carry.

You can read it from the FDA’s website here: FDA: Cancer Warnings Required for TNF Blockers

And this is the information they offer to healthcare providers: Information for Healthcare Professionals

These medications certainly still have their uses, but a very large number of people who are currently on Biological meds could probably be seeing good results with narrowband UVB phototherapy instead, without such established links to cancer and without stressing the internal organs.

Treat lightly instead…

Home UVB is just as Safe* as clinical treatments
This article from the British Medical Journal publishes the results of a study comparing UVB patients being treated at a clinic and those using home UVB systems. It not only found home phototherapy to be slightly more effective, just as Safe* & a lot easier to keep using than through clinical visits.

Article can be located here: Home UVB versus Clinical Treatments (BMJ)


Vitiligo & nbUVB for East Indian patients
Phototherapy dosage is based on the skin’s response. The darker the skin, the longer the dosage required. Many people have expressed concern that nbUVB would be less effective for them, because they have particularly dark skin. A study that was released on 08/07/2009 by the Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology (IJDVL) offers proof to the contrary.

Out of the 150 patients who were treated twice weekly for a year (every other day is considered the optimal regimen), 99 patients saw repigmentation of 25% or more. The remaining 51 patients did see repigmentation, but less than 25% of their affected areas. As with all other studies conducted to this date, nbUVB was found to be both Safe* and effective with good to excellent results, and virtually no negative side effects.

Had the subjects been treated at the more medically therapeutic rate of once every two days, the results would likely have been even more positive. It is worth noting that vitiligo is a particularly stigmatizing condition amongst the Indian population. Even worse, there is a higher than average incidence of vitiligo throughout the country. It is often called "white leprosy" and those who have it are treated like ‘lepers’; often prevented from marrying.

The article can be read here: Evaluation of narrow-band UVB phototherapy in 150 patients with vitiligo. Kumar YH, Rao GR, Gopal K, Shanti G, Rao KV. Evaluation of narrow-band UVB phototherapy in 150 patients with vitiligo. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol [serial online] 2009 [cited 2009 Aug 7];75:162-6.

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