Psoralens and ocular effects in humans

The safety of psoralen photochemotherapy (PUVA) in relation to the eye has been an area of research at the Washington Hospital Center for the last 6 years. Our studies indicate that, with proper shielding of the eye, safety for acute lenticular damage can be established. However, the potential for cataract formation from low-dose, long-term ambient UVA exposure is not known. The guidelines for proper shielding of the eye with PUVA therapy have been established and are enumerated in the text. Our studies on 68 patients for an average length of 4 years and 7 months while they received PUVA have established that the rate in the development of cataracts in treated patients had not increased as compared with the Framingham Eye Study.