Diclofenac sodium 3% gel for darier's disease treatment

Darier's disease (DD) is an autosomal dominant skin disorder which causative gene, ATP2A2, is located atchromosome 12q23-24. The lesions of DD are skin-coloured to brown, hyperkeratotic, greasy papules that coalesce into warty plaques commonly involving the seborrhoeic areas of the trunk and face, especially the scalp margins, temples, ears, and scalp. The most common complaint associated with the disease is itching, with exacerbations attributed to heat, sweating, sunlight, lithium, steroid therapy, stress, and menstruation

We report a patient with DD treated with topical diclofenac sodium 3%.

We report a 33-year-old patient with Darier's Disease. He was followed in our department since 2009, and we had tried to control several flares of lesions during follow-up, but oral isotretinoin was not tolerated because of adverse effects; and oral doxycycline showed lack of efficacy.At April 2014, patient presented with new lesions, involving anterior chest wall, abdomen, back and shoulders areas. We started with diclofenac sodium 3% in hyaluronic acid 2.5% once daily, only applied at abdomen and anterior chest wall.

After six-month therapy, hyperkeratotic papules were flattened and less harshness of them was noticed, even some of them disappeared.

We consider topical diclofenac therapy as a useful alternative treatment for DD patients, in which previous therapies have not shown efficacy. We did not observed topical adverse effects, neither systemic absorption symptoms, but werecognized further and larger studies are needed to asses the efficacy and safety of this treatment in DD.