Osteoarthritis affects roughly 528 million people worldwide; rheumatoid arthritis adds another 18 million. These numbers have climbed steadily over three decades of Global Burden of Disease tracking.

Selecting between phototherapy and biologic therapy is a common decision point in the management of psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and vitiligo. Both options deliver real clinical results.

Most dermatology practices that invest in a phototherapy cabin end up using it for one or two diagnoses at most – typically plaque psoriasis and sometimes atopic dermatitis.

Most of us in pediatric dermatology have been in this situation: a child with stubborn psoriasis or eczema, three or four months into topical treatment, and the skin looks no different than it did at the first visit.

Eleftheriadou and colleagues (2014) noted that hand-held NB-UVB units are light-weight devices that may overcome the need to treat vitiligo in hospital-based phototherapy cabinets, allowing early treatment at home that may enhance the likelihood of successful re-pigmentation.

Zhu et al (2023) noted that vitiligo is an autoimmune disease and some guidelines for the management of vitiligo encouraged the use of NB-UVB combination therapies to enhance re-pigmentation.  In a systematic review and network meta-analysis, these researchers compared the effectiveness of current NB-UVB combination regimen at the improvement in re-pigmentation.  They searched the electronic […]

Lee and associates (2016) noted that systemic corticosteroids have been used to arrest the progression of vitiligo; however, side effects have been a constant issue.  In a retrospective study, these researchers examined the efficacy and side effect of oral mini-pulse (OMP) therapy with methylprednisolone (MPD) combined with narrow-band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) for adults with non-segmental […]

Khemis and colleagues (2020) noted that scientific rationale and encouraging first clinical results suggested the interest of using apremilast for treating vitiligo.  In a 52-week, prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study, these researchers compared the efficacy of apremilast in combination therapy with narrow-band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) versus placebo and NB-UVB treatment for re-pigmentation in patients with non-segmental […]