Trichloroacetic acid 50% is less effective than photodynamic therapy with 5 methyl-aminolevulinate in the treatment of multiple actinic keratosis of the scalp although better tolerated by patients. As this technique is less painful and less expensive than photodynamic therapy, we hypothesize and suggest that more sequential treatments could lead to better results.

The aim of this work was to investigate the distribution of 5-methoxypsoralen in the skin after oral administration of the drug and to examine the correlation between skin and plasma concentrations. 5-Methoxypsoralen skin concentration was measured in both healthy and psoriatic sites of 10 psoriatic patients after single and multiple oral doses. The results obtained show that 5-methoxypsoralen accumulates at higher levels in the more external layers of the skin after oral administration. The high affinity of drug for the stratum corneum was confirmed by in vitro skin affinity measurements. The concentration of 5-methoxypsoralen in the skin was similar in both psoriatic and healthy sites, indicating that the pathology does not influence drug distribution in the skin. After single dose administration, a linear correlation was found between skin and plasma drug concentration. After multiple dose administration, drug concentration in the skin was fairly constant despite the variable plasma concentrations in different subjects.

A case of non-familial multiple digitate hyperkeratosis is reported. Digitate hyperkeratosis is a new, non-follicular disorder of keratinization and three different types have been distinguished in the literature: the familial type, with an autosomal dominant trait; the sporadic type; and the post-inflammatory type.

No abstract

No abstract