Psoriasis is an inflammatory, immune-mediated, persistent, and multifactorial skin disease. Chronic plaque psoriasis is the most common clinical form of psoriasis. Pro-inflammatory cytokines play a primary role in the pathogenicity of this disease. Psoriasis is mainly diagnosed using clinical and dermoscopic examination of the cutaneous lesions, and skin biopsy is used in atypical cases. Psoriasis has no definitive cure. However, several topical agents are effective in managing mild and chronic cases. Combination therapy with these topical agents is more effective than with a single agent. We report a case of chronic plaque psoriasis in a 33-year-old man presenting with an itchy circumscribed, erythematous, scaly plaque, and a single cutaneous lesion covering >50% of both forearms and a few lesions on the back. The right forearm was treated with calcipotriol alone, whereas the left forearm was treated with a tacrolimus and halobetasol combination with emollients to be applied twice a day on both arms. We observed treatment responses for seven days with 24-hour intervals after each application. Combination therapy yielded a better response. In conclusion, topical treatment with a combination of halobetasol and tacrolimus is more effective compared to that with a single agent while being cost-effective and causing minimal adverse effects.
Keywords: calcipotriol; combination therapy; halobetasol; plaque psoriasis; tacrolimus.
Copyright © 2024, Sarwar et al.