Treatment of cutaneous sarcoidosis using phonophoresis

Sarcoidosis is a multiple-system disorder of unknown origin characterized histologically by epithelioid granulomas with little or no necrosis. We describe a 32-year-old female patient with a history of systemic sarcoidosis and common variable immunodeficiency with recurrent, multiple, soft, erythematous and violaceous nodules on the back of her left hand. Her lesions responded to phonophoresis after unsuccessful treatment with topical and intralesional corticosteroids. However, nodules appeared on other parts of her body after phonophoresis was stopped, which suggests that phonophoresis had a localized rather than systemic effect.