In the mid- and late 80s, the Psoriasis Treatment Center saw more and more patients with moderate-to severe psoriasis.
The addition of a new drug, etretinate (first marketed as Tegison by Hoffman LaRoche), a retinoid somewhat like accutane, enhanced the benefit of phototherapy. Some said it had a synergistic effect.
Tegison would help normalize epidermal growth. Normal epidermis takes 28 to grow; in psoriasis it grows in about 4 days, and does not mature normally. Tegison decreased the scale on the surface of the skin and thereby allowed ultraviolet light to penetrate better.
With Tegison and PUVA the treatment called Re-PUVA was coined. The Psoriasis Treatment Center was at the forefront of this new combination therapy which decreased the number of phototherapy treatments necessary to obtain clearing.
During this era we also added a hand-foot UV light unit (PUVA) so that patients who had psoriasis on their palms and soles did not have to expose their entire body to light.
Having treated quite a few patients with psoriasis over the previous 7 years, I started attending all national and some international psoriasis symposiums. I realized I was asking the same questions as, and treating similarly to, the key opinion leaders of the time, including Drs. H. H. Roenig, Nicholas J. Lowe, and Alan Mentor. This inspired me to do more.
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