Topical administration of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 for proriasis: Report of five cases

Abstract

The effects of topical administration of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, as 0.1 and 0.5 microgram per g base, and control base applied to contralateral skin lesions in five patients with persistent psoriasis were compared. In all five, definite and in some cases remarkable improvement of the lesions was seen when 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 at concentration of 0.5 microgram per g base was applied for two to five weeks. No local or systemic toxicity was detected in any patient. Although the mechanism of the improvement is yet to be elucidated, these results show the possible effectiveness of topical 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on psoriatic skin lesions.

Topical application of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (calcitriol) is an effective and reliable therapy to cure skin lesions in psoriatic children

“…Oral calcitriol or the topical application of this sterol [19,11] or of its analogue, calcipotriol [9], have been successful in improving psoriasis in adults. Since to our knowledge reports on the use of calcitriol in psoriatic children are lacking, we investigated the effectiveness and reliability of topical administration of such a sterol for curing skin lesions in children affected by psoriasis vulgaris.…”

Progress in self treatment for psoriasis vulgaris

“…This was followed by several reports from the same investigators (18)(19)(20) and others (21-26), that not only systemic, but also topical, vitamin D analogues could be used to treat psoriasis. Most of this research was performed using 1,25 dihydroxy-vitamin D3 (calcitriol).…”

In Reply

“…For example, in one general hospital cerebrovas cular diseases may be taken care of at the department of neurology while in another at the department of in ternal medicine. Statistics on coexistence between stroke and diabetes will obviously yield different out come in these two hypothetical hospitals and both will presumably differ from the outcome of studies per formed on a general population basis in the research setting of a community-based inquiry [3],…”

“…Sir, Recent studies concerning the effects of the active form of vitamin D3 for psoriasis [1][2][3] are currently a dermatological topic. The true mechanism of the suc cessful evidence, however, is unknown, though there are some reports which hypothesize the mode of action related to its control on growth and differentiation of keratinocytes [1][2][3][4].…”