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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Minimal Erythema Dose (MED) Testing
Published on: May 28, 2013
Ultraviolet-free phototherapy
Jean Krutmann1, Kathrin Medve-Koenigs, Thomas Ruzicka
1Environmental Health Research Institute, Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf GmbH, Germany. krutmann@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de
Background:
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation phototherapy has been used for decades in the management of common skin diseases. On the other hand, UV radiation is a complete carcinogen and as a consequence, UV phototherapy is usually not used for the long-term management of children and young adults and in combination with topical or systemic immunosuppressants.
Purpose:
The therapeutic effectiveness of a new UV-free irradiation device in the treatment of patients with atopic hand and/or foot eczema was studied.
Methods:
In a single-blinded trial 10 patients with atopic hand and/or foot eczema were treated with a sham irradiation device and with the new developed UV-free irradiation device DermoDyne during the following 4 weeks. All irradiation's lasted 30 min per treatment three times weekly.
Results:
UV-free irradiation was found to induce a significant clinical improvement of atopic hand and foot eczema (P = 0.0001) in marked contrast to the sham-irradiation (P = 0.39).
Conclusion:
Our studies demonstrate that visible light can be successfully used for the treatment of patients with atopic eczema.
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