Inverse psoriasis involving genital skin folds: successful therapy with dapsone

Inverse psoriasis is a rare form of psoriasis that affects between 3% and 7% of the patients with psoriasis. It can comprise genital skin folds as part of genital psoriasis, and it is one of the most commonly seen dermatoses of this area. There are few evidence-based studies about the treatment of intertriginous psoriasis involving genital skin folds.

The authors present a 42-year-old female patient with erythematous plaques in the vulva, groin, and perianal region. The patient had previously received a broad range of topical and systemic therapies that had to be discontinued due to ineffectiveness or side effects. She was treated with 100 mg dapsone daily for 10 months, showing a significant improvement of her cutaneous and mucous lesions. Complete clearance of psoriatic lesions was observed after 4 weeks of treatment. She has remained in remission for up to 2 years, using only topical therapy with tacrolimus 0.1% and calcipotriol.

Genital psoriasis is a skin disease that causes great discomfort. It is important to include examination of the genital region and to adopt this conduct in daily clinical practice. Research in this field is still poor, making no discrimination between flexural and genital psoriasis, and is based on case series and expert opinion; therefore, empirical recommendations for the treatment of genital psoriasis remain. Dapsone has been shown to be an effective and convenient alternative for the treatment of inverse psoriasis in genital skin folds, which can provide effective control of the disease. Further studies are required to determine the efficacy and safety of current therapies, and to decide whether dapsone therapy should be considered in the management of this form of psoriasis when topical and other systemic agents are not effective.