Psoriasis is a medical condition that can happen to anyone. There are a lot of treatment that can be used to treat psoriasis. They can take over the counter medicine or do phototherapy for psoriasis. For those who needs more than over the counter medicines to manage their psoriasis, they better be looking for UV treatment for psoriasis that match with their symptoms. Hence, below are several kinds of UV treatment for psoriasis that they can do.

Broad Ultraviolet B (BB-UVB) Light Therapy

This kind of light therapy is older than narrow band UVB, but both of them are similar. The BB-UVB light therapy will use bulb that can emit 270 and 390 of wavelength of light. By doing this treatment, the patient can get 90% clear skin after doing therapy three times a week with average of 23 treatments. Meanwhile, patients can get 100% clear skin after doing therapy five times a week with average of 27 treatments. However, BB-UVB is considered to be less effective compared to NB-UVB, and it also most likely can cause side effects. This therapy is effective to treat plaque psoriasis.

Narrow Ultraviolet B (NB-UVB)

The next UV treatment for psoriasis is Narrow Ultraviolet B or NB-UVB. This therapy is the most common form of phototherapy. Usually, NB-UVB is used to treat plaque psoriasis as well as guttate psoriasis. NB-UVB uses bulbs that can emit between 311 and 313 of wavelengths of light. The first dose of this therapy will depend on the patient’s skin type and how easily the get burn or tan. This treatment is most effective when performed two or three times a week.  In order to get the treatment to be more effective, the patient is suggested to combine it with topical treatment.

Psoralen Plus Ultraviolet A (PUVA) Therapy

This phototherapy will use ultraviolet A and psoralen. Psoralen is a medication that can improve skin sensitivity to light. The medication can be taken orally, combined with bathwater, or even applied topically. To put it simply, PUVA is highly affective, but not many people are using it because it is not widely available. If you want to do oral PUVA treatment, you should take precaution because it has highest risk of drug interactions and have side effects such as nausea. To make it more effective, it can be combined with retinoid. PUVA is perfect for adults that suffer from moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. PUVA is broadly performed in Europe. This kind of UV treatment for psoriasis provides special benefits for adults with palmoplantar psoriasis and palmoplantar pustular psoriasis.