Investigators have found that misconceptions in treating patients with mild to moderate psoriasis may be prevalent and that physicians may downplay the extent to which the disease may impact a patient’s quality of life, according to a report from Dermatology Times. In the new study, presented by Linda Stein Gold, MD, and colleagues at the Maui Derm Hawaii 2023 meeting, investigators uncovered several misperceptions centered around medications used in treating patients with psoriasis and offered advice on which treatment options may be most effective. Dr. Stein Gold, Director of Dermatology Clinical Research at Henry Ford Health, emphasized that combination therapy with topical corticosteroids continues to be the most effective treatment option—especially with calcipotriene/betamethasone and tazarotene/halobetasol lotion, which have demonstrated the ability to reduce adverse outcomes and increase the potential for achieving clear skin after 8 weeks of treatment. She also noted that nonsteroidals such as tapinarof and the topical phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor roflumilast can be administered as monotherapies. Additionally, Dr. Stein Gold busted the myth that scalp psoriasis may not be possible to treat—recommending that, though the disease is difficult to manage, physicians can improve their patients’ quality of life by treating scalp and body psoriasis with etanercept, adalimumab, ustekinumab, or andapremilast as first-line therapies.
May 25, 2023