Safety of solar phototherapy at the Dead Sea

Heliotherapy: A South African perspective

“…5 Avoidance of unnecessary sun exposure should be stressed, and patients should be advised to report any adverse events immediately, wear sunglasses, apply sunscreen to face and hands, and cover the genitalia during exposure to natural sunlight. 10,13 Absolute contraindications to heliotherapy include xeroderma pigmentosum and other disorders predisposing to sun-induced cancers. Caution is appropriate if there is a past history of non-melanoma skin cancer, immunosuppression, pemphigus, pemphigoid, cataracts, aphakia or photosensitivity.…”

“…Patients undergo 3 -5 treatments per week; the duration of treatment is at the doctor's discretion. 8,9 Avraham Kushelevsky et al 10 devised the concept of MED per hour (MED/h) to overcome these issues when using heliotherapy in the Dead Sea basin. The concept differs from MED (energy per unit area); the latter varies according to skin type, and is the minimum single dose of UVR required to produce erythema after 24 hours at an exposed site.…”

Die Evidenz der Klima- und Thalassotherapie. Ein Review

“…Bei einer 4-wöchigen Kli-matherapie am Toten Meer erhalten die Patienten im Mittel 3,11 J/cm 2 an UV-B, was 148 MED entspricht [69].…”

Dead sea climatotherapy for psoriasis vulgaris: analysis of short-term results

“…More recently, psoriasis at earlier age, which is usually correlated to poor results, was found to be slightly better improved than psoriasis emerging later in life [6]. Thus, it seems important to define which patients hold the best chances to reach total or almost-total clearance through this natural method of treatment, which was demonstrated as free of side effects [7], well accepted and improving largely Quality of Life parameters [8].…”