New insights about infant and toddler skin: implications for sun protection.

The skin is increasingly recognized as a component of the innate immune response, in addition to its role as a physical barrier. Although the deleterious effects of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR), including immunosuppression and cutaneous tumorigenesis, are widely acknowledged, most studies to date have concentrated on adult skin. Despite the more sensitive nature of infant and toddler skin, little is known about its responses to UVR exposure, whether acute or long-term.

Contact and photocontact sensitization in chronic actinic dermatitis: a changing picture.

Background: Patients with chronic actinic dermatitis (CAD) frequently have positive patch or photopatch tests. In our previous study (period 1987-1992), the most prominent contact allergen was the sesquiterpene lactone mix (36% of patients with CAD).

Objective: To assess whether contact allergy profiles in CAD patients between 2000 and 2005 have changed in respect to our previous data (1987-1992).

Spectrophotometric intracutaneous analysis as an early non-invasive predictor of efficacy in the phototherapy of psoriasis.

Background: Phototherapy is generally effective for psoriasis but individual responsiveness and optimal treatment duration for disease clearance are unpredictable. However, easy, rapid and non-invasive plaque assessment by spectrophotometric intracutaneous analysis (SIAscopy), a novel multispectral skin imaging technique, may now make prediction feasible.

Objectives: The early prediction of psoriatic plaque clearance during phototherapy by SIAscopy.

Randomized double-blind trial of treatment of vitiligo: efficacy of psoralen-UV-A therapy vs Narrowband-UV-B therapy.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of oral psoralen-UV-A (PUVA) with that of narrowband-UV-B (NB-UVB) phototherapy in patients with nonsegmental vitiligo.

Design: Double-blind randomized study.

Setting: Phototherapy unit in a university hospital.

Randomized double-blind trial of the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis: efficacy of psoralen-UV-A therapy vs narrowband UV-B therapy.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of oral psoralen-UV-A (PUVA) therapy with that of narrowband UV-B (NB-UVB) therapy in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis.

Design: Double-blind randomized study.

Setting: Phototherapy unit in a university hospital.

Photoadaptation during narrowband ultraviolet-B therapy is independent of skin type: a study of 352 patients.

Understanding how photoadaptation differs between individuals is important when considering susceptibility to the beneficial and harmful effects of sunlight exposure and when determining optimal phototherapy regimens. Most narrowband UVB (NB-UVB) regimens start with 70% of the minimal erythema dose (MED) with 20% increments at each treatment thereafter. We retrospectively studied 352 skin types I-IV psoriatic patients having twice weekly treatment with this regimen.

The effect of solar-simulated radiation on the elicitation phase of contact hypersensitivity does not differ between controls and patients with polymorphic light eruption.

It has been suggested that polymorphic light eruption (PLE) is characterized by a failure of ultraviolet radiation (UVR)-induced immunosuppression, resulting in a type-IV hypersensitivity response to photoinduced antigens. We measured the effect of solar-simulated radiation (SSR) on the elicitation phase of contact hypersensitivity to 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), in ten PLE patients and 11 controls. Subjects were given a sensitizing dose of DNCB, and 3 wk later were exposed to 0.

Ultraviolet-radiation-induced erythema and suppression of contact hypersensitivity responses in patients with polymorphic light eruption.

Ultraviolet-radiation suppresses cell-mediated immunity in healthy humans. It has been postulated that, in the short term, this immunosuppression prevents autoimmune responses to ultraviolet-radiation damaged skin. Patients with polymorphic light eruption (PLE) demonstrate abnormal responses to ultraviolet-radiation suggestive of an immune response to an ultraviolet-radiation-induced antigen.

Photosensitivity disorders: cause, effect and management.

Abnormal photosensitivity syndromes form a significant and common group of skin diseases. They include primary (idiopathic) photodermatoses such as polymorphic light eruption (PLE), chronic actinic dermatitis (CAD), actinic prurigo, hydroa vacciniforme and solar urticaria, in addition to drug- and chemical-induced photosensitivity and photo-exacerbated dermatoses. They can be extremely disabling and difficult to diagnose.