Cryotherapy for Psoriasis Treatment
Title: Cryotherapy as a treatment for psoriasis.
Authors: Shamsadini S, et al.
Publication: Dermatol Online J. 2005 Aug 1;11(2):21.
The authors wanted to evaluate the use of cryotherapy (freezing
or low temperature therapy) to treat small plaque psoriasis. To
do this, they enrolled 63 patients who had a clinical diagnosis
of chronic plaque-type psoriasis.
For each patient, the author evaluated 2 psoriatic plaques of
almost the same size and severity on similar parts of the body.
They spray one of the plaques with liquid nitrogen every other
day for 2 weeks and left the other plaque untreated as control.
The authors found:
- 4 patients (6.35%) had complete resolution of the treated
plaque
- 19 patients (30.1%) had mild to moderate resolution
- 40 patients (63.5%) had no improvement
There was only one complication – one patient developed
infection. The author suggested that cryotherapy might mediate
mild resolution of plaques by inducing normal skin growth following
destruction by freezing, in a reverse Koebner phenomenon. The
authors concluded that cryotherapy was safe to use in treatment
of small-plaque psoriasis, but with limited efficacy.
Editor’s Note: Koebner phenomenon or isomorphic
response, is the appearance of lesion along the site of injury.
The reverse Koebner phenomenon is seen when an area of psoriatic
lesion clears up following injury by electrodessication, sandpaper
abrasion, infection, and surgery.
