Home Phototherapy Study
By Kay-Anne Haykal and Jean-Pierre DesGroseilliers
From the University of Ottawa Division of Dermatology; Phototherapy Clinics, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus; and Sisters of Charity Ottawa Health Service, Elisabeth Bruyere Health Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Reprinted with permission from Volume 10, Issue 5, of the Journal of Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery; an official publication of the Canadian Dermatology Association.
In 2006, after several years of prescribing Narrowband UVB home phototherapy for patients that “had already responded favourably to phototherapy” at one of the Ottawa clinics, this independent study was undertaken to assess “the viability and safety of such treatment”. It was concluded: “NB-UVB home phototherapy was found to be very effective in comparison with hospital therapy. It is safe and presents few side effects when patients receive appropriate guidelines, teaching, and follow-ups.
Not only is it convenient, it also provides effective savings for the patients who are unable to attend the hospital owing to time, travel, and interference with work schedules. “All patients on home therapy were satisfied with their treatment, plan to continue it, and recommend it to others in similar situations.” Click on the picture to download the complete article. (189kB pdf)
A Summary of the Article’s Facts are:
(With direct quotes from the article in “quotation marks”)
Patients Involved
Twenty-five patients took part in the study; 12 women and 13 men. Ages ranged from 10 to 72 years old with the mean age of 49 years old.
Solarc Devices Only
All patients used Solarc/SolRx home phototherapy devices exclusively.
Skin Conditions
Of the 25 patients; 20 had psoriasis, 2 had vitiligo, 2 had mycosis fungoides, and 1 had atopic dermatitis.
Devices Used
Of the Solarc/SolRx devices used; 18 were 1000‑Series full body panels (1760UVB-NB and 1780UVB‑NB) and 7 were 500‑Series Hand/Foot & Spot devices (550UVB-NB).
Treatment Length
“The duration on home therapy varied from 2 weeks to 1.5 years, and the number of treatments to date was in the range of 10 to 200 treatments.”
No Financial Support
“Solarc Systems Inc. provided no financial support for this study.”
Survey Stats
The survey consisted of approximately 30 questions. See the Appendix in the article for the actual questions.
Patience Response
All patients “had already responded favourably to phototherapy” at one of the Ottawa clinics and had used Narrowband UVB home phototherapy devices with Philips /01 311 nm bulbs.
These findings are consistent with the customer feedback Solarc has received on our Testimonials webpage. Click here to download the complete article. (189kB pdf)
Solarc Systems would like to thank Dr. Kay-Anne Haykal, Dr. Jean-Pierre DesGroseilliers and all the staff at the Elisabeth Bruyere and Ottawa Civic Hospitals for completing this study, and their purity of purpose.