Acitretin (Soriatane) for Acrodermatitis Continua
from Steve E.

Ed:  I was recently (or should I say finally, since there were many preceding diagnoses) told I have Acrodermatitis Continua, and was searching the Internet to learn more, when I came across your correspondence with Wanda, who also suffers from it.

Fortunately for me, my case is not nearly as advanced as hers. It began to surface just last August, and I've been frustrated trying to find a cure. Recently, during a trip to India, I was able to afford a trip to one of the best hospitals in New Delhi (here in the States such a visit would cost a fortune) and met with Dr. S. K. Bose, a veteran Research Scientist at INSERM, CHR, in Nice, France.

He put me on 25 mg of Acitretin, and my symptoms have all but disappeared in less than two weeks! He did caution, however, that I must continue treatment twice weekly once the visible symptoms are cleared for at least one year.

I wanted to share this with you, so you could pass it onto to Wanda. It sure sounds like she's battling with a tough situation.  Thanks, -Steve E.

*****

Ed’s Response:  And thanks for your report, Steve.  For National Psoriasis Foundation’s blurb about Acitretin, click here.  In the U.S. this is prescribed as Soriatane and has been found to be most effective against severe cases of pustular and erythrodermic P (less so against the most common variety, plaque psoriasis).  Yours is the first I’ve heard of the drug working to palliate Acrodermatitis Continua.  But who’s complaining? 

We’ll take our effective treatments from wherever we can get them — including from friends who encounter French physicians while visiting hospitals in New Delhi!  It’s a small world after all....  -Ed

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