RESEARCH ARTICLE


Topical Tacrolimus for Psoriasis



Toshiyuki Yamamoto*
Robert Koch-Institute, FG 22, General-Pape-Str. 62, 12101 Berlin, Germany.

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2009
Volume: 2
First Page: 51
Last Page: 55
Publisher Id: TOALLJ-2-51
DOI: 10.2174/1874838400902010051

Article History:

Received Date: 17/8/2009
Revision Received Date: 13/9/2009
Acceptance Date: 19/9/2009
Electronic publication date: 13/11/2009
Collection year: 2009

© 2009 Toshiyuki Yamamoto;

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Dermatology, Fukushima Medical University, Hikarigaoka 1, Fukushima 960-1295 (Japan); Tel: +81245471307; Fax: +81245485412; E-mail: toyamade@fmu.ac.jp


Abstract

Tacrolimus ointment is an agent approved for the treatment of atopic dermatitis; however, tacrolimus has been expected also as one of the promising therapeutic strategies for other T-cell mediated inflammatory skin disorders. Recent progress have demonstrated that topical tacrolimus shows beneficial effects for psoriasis depending on sites. In particular, facial, intertriginous, and genital psoriasis respond to topical tacrolimus dramatically in a short period. Further, topical tacrolimus is tolerable also for child psoriasis. Because topical tacrolimus does not induce either skin atrophy or telangiectasia different from corticosteroids, it is recommended to be a first choice. The most proper way of topical tacrolimus therapy at present is to use this ointment intermittently after the remission was once obtained, paying attention to its adverse effects.