The role of tar in Goeckerman therapy

Seventeen patients with psoriasis were treated with 5% crude coal tar in an absorbent ointment base (Aquaphor) to one half of the body and with the absorbent ointment base alone to the other half. They received twice-daily erythemogenic doses of ultraviolet irradiation (UVR). Both modalities, crude coal tar and absorbent ointment base alone, combined with UVR were equally effective in improving psoriatic plaques. On the basis of this and previous studies, we question the therapeutic role of tar in the Goeckerman regimen.