To the Editor.—
At the Washington (DC) Hospital Center, seven psoriatic patients who were unresponsive to three weeks of intensive inpatient Goeckerman therapy—ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B) twice daily and a topical application of tar—have, over the years, been treated with combined therapy, including the combinations of Goeckerman therapy with psoralens and ultraviolet-A (PUVA), with methotrexate, with hydroxyurea (Hydrea), with both PUVA and methotrexate, and with both PUVA and hydroxyurea.Hydroxyurea, an S-phase mitotic inhibitor, has been used with benefit in psoriasis.1,2 We have used this agent in combination with UV-B and/or PUVA in five patients. We have observed three patients in whom the combination of hydroxyurea with UV-B was associated with a characteristic pain in psoriatic lesions, which to our knowledge has not previously been described. This pain begins during UV-B therapy and lasts for one to three hours. We herein present three case reports.
Report of Cases.—Case 1.—
A