The World of UV Phototherapy

Posts Tagged ‘Ultraviolet’

It’s great to have an independent source ratify what we’ve known for years. UV Phototherapy at home is safe, well tolerated and here in the USA, very cost effective for the patient and the insurance company that sometimes is paying the bill.

Since the publishing of the article on May 7th by the British Medical Journal on the effectiveness of UVB Treatment in the home, the Internet has been buzzing with articles written by a host of reviewers on the subject. Most are simply referring to the original article but many are commenting. Most if not all of the postings I’ve seen on various blogs and publications show strong support for the use of UVB Narrowband Therapy in the home.

This of course is like music to my ears. Many of you know that I run a business offering UV Phototherapy Products for use in the home. See www.HomePhotoTherapy.com. So of course I’m a little biased.

The actual heading of the article is “Home versus outpatient ultraviolet B phototherapy for mild to severe psoriasis: pragmatic multicentre randomised controlled non-inferiority trial (PLUTO study)”

The finding by the researchers who followed 196 patients was “Ultraviolet B phototherapy administered at home is equally safe and equally effective, both clinically and for quality of life, as ultraviolet B phototherapy administered in an outpatient setting. Furthermore, ultraviolet B phototherapy at home resulted in a lower burden of treatment and led to greater patients’ satisfaction. “

This statement flies in the face of many dermatologists that say that they believe that treatment at home is the wrong approach because they believe that patients will not be compliant at home. It’s interesting to note that many of the derms who make such ridiculous statements have phototherapy systems in their offices or clinic and they draw some of their income for the sale of time in their own phototherapy systems. I guess it shows that even doctors like to make a dollar.

Treatment at home is ultimately much less expensive to the patient and the insurance company than in-clinic treatment. Typical home equipment can range from $600.00 to $7000.00 with most folks spending perhaps $2500.00 on a home system. In clinic rates can vary from a low of $25.00 to a high of $90.00 PER TREATMENT. I we take an average of let’s say $40.00/treatment with three treatments a week then that’s $120.00/week and in 20 weeks ($2400.00), the typical home system would be paid for. That does not include the costs of parking, car mileage, time of work.

Visit www.HomePhotoTherapy.com to see some home systems. Remember most folks over a lifetime require treatment sometimes several times a year, perhaps for a lifetime.

The absolute best way to have UV Treatment is in the home.

<Link to original article>

One of the questions that arises from time to time is “Do I need a dosimeter in my home system?” My answer is No, so let’s talk about it.

OK, so what’s a dosimeter you ask? UV Phototherapy systems in clinicasl use (in a clinic, hospital or doctor’s office) absolutely require some form of dosimetry. A dosimeter is a device that measures the power of the UV light output from the lamps and determines the treatment time required for that particular treatment session based on the input from the clinician.

In home use, a dosimeter can add significant cost to a phototherapy system and offer no advantage to the home user. In a clinical environment, lamps age, patients might not be using the same phototherapy booth or panel or might go to a different clinic. For these reasons it is important that the treatment dosage, usually measured in Joules or Milli-Joules is known and recorded. Then, if the patient returns to a unit where bulbs have been replaced or perhaps a different booth the last treatment energy in Joules or Milli-Joules is known and can be used to set the dosage for the next treatment.

In the home, the user uses the same machine every day and unless new lamps are installed the power output from the lamps will be essentially the same as the output two days earlier during the prior treatment and the treatment time will usually be the same. Please see my posting on treatment times for the home user <CLICK HERE> 

A Joule is a measurement of ENERGY which is POWER delivered over time. OK so now it’s getting more complicated and for that I apologize. I have created a page called “Joules,

What is Ultraviolet Light

The spectrum of light is broken up into several pieces such as UV (ultraviolet), IR (infrared) and of course visible light. UV and IR are not visible to the naked eye but each affects our skin and in the case of IR can be felt as heat on the human skin. UV light is not seen or felt but it can have profound and lasting effects on the skin in beneficial and sometimes harmful ways.

Image from http://www.homephototherapy.com/nbc-narrowband.htm

Looking at the image above, one should notice that

1) The red line is our skin’s sensitivity to UV light
2) The blue line is what we call UVB Broad Band
3) The green line is UVB Narrow Band