Oral alitretinoin for the treatment of recalcitrant pityriasis rubra pilaris.

Abstract

Treatment of pityriasis rubra pilaris is still challenging. We here present a 74-year-old woman who had not experienced stable remission of her skin symptoms during prior treatments including topical and systemic corticosteroids, phototherapy, orally administered acitretin, cyclosporine, methotrexate and adalimumab. A therapy with oral alitretinoin was started and tolerated very well. After a few weeks, skin condition improved significantly and itching and scaling disappeared. The present case shows that alitretinoin might be an alternative in the treatment of recalcitrant pityriasis rubra pilaris type I. Further studies are needed to investigate the benefit of this encouraging result.

• Authors: Laurenz Schmitt, Oliver Inhoff, Edgar Dippel
• Journal: Case reports in dermatology (Case Rep Dermatol) Vol. 3 Issue 1 Pg. 85-8 (Apr 18 2011) ISSN: 1662-6567 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 21577368 (Publication Type: Case Reports)