Long-term Risks of Psoralen and UV-A Therapy for Psoriasis

Drug fever caused by PUVA treatment

“…changes, cataract formation, alterations in the immune system etc. (3). In the present paper we describe a patient, in whom PUVA treatment induced drug fever, whereas neither 8-methoxypsoralene (8-MOP) nor UV -A irradiation gave rise to complaints.…”

Changes in skin physiology during bath PUVA therapy

“…Ultraviolet A irradiation after oral application of 8‐methoxypsoralen (8‐MOP) led to lower UVA doses and faster improvement 4–6 . Problems inherent in systemic 8‐MOP therapy are the long‐lasting (several hours) light‐sensitivity of the patients and other systemic side‐effects such as nausea 7,8 . The side‐effects were substantially reduced when topical treatment with 8‐MOP was developed, a therapy with which the total dose of UVA can be reduced further 9–13 .…”