[Photo-brine therapy in patients with psoriasis and neurodermatitis atopica]

The effectiveness of salt water baths and subsequent selective ultraviolet phototherapy (SUP) was investigated in a prospective study on 40 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and atopic dermatitis. There were two groups with 20 patients each. The first group was treated with salt water (15%) that contained synthetic Dead Seas salt called "Psorisal"; the patients in the second group had a bath in a 3% NaCl solution. After 4 weeks of daily treatment, we found that 80% of the patients in the group treated with "Psorisal" had significantly better results than the second group. The subjective feeling of being ill had decreased significantly in both groups by the end of the study. The only side effect we found was the occurrence of sunburn in few cases, but this occurred significantly less in the "Psorisal" group. Both groups generally accepted the balneophototherapy, so it can easily be employed on an outpatient basis.