Acitretin or Tazarotene Gel and Excimer Laser for Treatment of Psoriasis

This is a randomized, double-blind study of excimer (308-nm UVB) laser added to either tazarotene 0.1% gel or acitretin 25 mg daily for plaque psoriasis. The primary objective of this study is to compare the improvement of psoriatic plaques with and without excimer laser (308-nm UVB) treatment, applied in a randomized and blinded fashion, in subjects on acitretin 25 mg or tazarotene gel 0.1% QD.

The hypothesis of this study is that excimer (308-nm UVB) laser added to either tazarotene 0.1% gel or acitretin 25 mg daily will lead to improved efficacy of these treatments alone. The primary objective of this study is to compare the improvement of psoriatic plaques with and without excimer laser (308-nm UVB) treatment, applied in a randomized and blinded fashion, in subjects on acitretin 25 mg or tazarotene gel 0.1% QD. The primary endpoint will be the comparison between the change in NPF score of plaques treated with excimer laser and those treated with sham treatment. The secondary objectives are to compare the number of excimer light treatments and time necessary to achieve an average lesion assessment score of 0 to 1 in subjects treated with acitretin 25 mg PO or tazarotene gel 0.1% QD, and to evaluate adverse events related to combinations of the study treatments.