Applying the right amount of cream may be the key to successful topical treatment of psoriasis in many patients, say dermatologists from Leicester Royal infirmary.
Dr J. Osborne and Dr P. Hutchinson worked out a mean weight of cream required per unit surface area and used this to calculate how much calcipotriol cream to prescribe for 18 patients who, despite having applied it for two weeks previously, had had a poor response.
After four weeks of applying the correct amount of cream, the average reduction in psoriasis was 60 per cent in 12 of the patients and 18 per cent in the remaining six. "Approximately two-thirds of psoriatic patients, who apparently respond poorly to topical calcipotriol, became highly responsive simply by optimising dosage. . . . However, some patients appear to be true non-responders," Drs Osborne and Hutchinson say.
Presenting the study as a poster at the annual meeting of the British Association of Dermatologists in London on July 11-15, the authors suggested that this method of dosage calculation could be applied to other topical therapies.