Disseminated scleroderma of a Japanese patient successfully treated with bath PUVA photochemotherapy

Localized scleroderma is known to be resistant to therapies. Recently, it has been reported that bath PUVA photochemotherapy is effective for treating this dermatosis.

Although according in earlier reports mainly white populations have been treated successfully with bath PUVA therapy, there is little knowledge of whether it is effective in treating colored populations. We treated a 64-year-old Japanese woman suffering from disseminated scleroderma with bath PUVA photochemotherapy to see its effects.

Although rather high cumulative UVA doses were required for this patient compared with those needed in earlier reports, no adverse effects were observed. The lesions were markedly improved, suggesting that this therapeutic modality is well-tolerated and useful for colored patients such as the Japanese. Furthermore, it turns out that the thermographical assessment is useful to estimate clinical improvement of this sclerosing skin disorder.