Despite the vast array of available
therapies for treating
psoriasis, there remains a need for safer, more effective treatments. Topical
tazarotene has been shown to be effective in treating mild-to-moderate
psoriasis without causing the adverse effects, such as mucocutaneous toxicity,
hyperostosis, and elevation in serum
lipids, often associated with orally administered
retinoids. A 2-week pretreatment with
tazarotene 0.1% gel once daily, followed by
tazarotene plus UVB
therapy (
tazarotene-UVB) 3 times per week for 10 weeks, was more effective than UVB
therapy alone or in combination with vehicle gel in reducing plaque elevation, scaling, and
erythema. The
tazarotene-UVB treatment was well tolerated, and no
phototoxicity was observed. Treatment success, defined as a moderate response or better in psoriatic lesions (ie, > or = 50% improvement in psoriatic lesions compared with baseline), was achieved within 32 days with the
tazarotene-UVB treatment, compared with 67 days with UVB alone or UVB plus vehicle gel.