PUVA Advice Needed

[Wolverine]

Hi all,

In the past 6 weeks I've gone from having a mild case of psoriasis to being covered with guttate from head to toe (face, hands, arms, legs, chest, back). Started exploding after I began using dovobet and although I stopped the dovobet 3 weeks ago (gradually) it continues to spread at an alarming rate.

I'm starting PUVA tomorrow and picked up the pills today. The patient release form for the treatment states that because you are being sensitized to UVA through the pills that you should keep out of the sun as much as possible for a period after each PUVA session and cover up or use sunscreen if contact with sunlight is unavoidable.

My main question is about the use of sunglasses. It says to use UV 400 sunglasses or others that offer 100% protection for 24 hours after each dosing of pills to prevent cataracts. The release form states to even wear them indoors if there is much natural light.

Can you tell me if you have worn sunglasses indoors after taking psoralen pills? Does the sunlight have to be shining on you through a window for a person to worry about it?

Any other advice would be much appreciated.

[IB]

Don't mess with your eyes.

When I was on PUVA I wore the sunglasses as recommended and without question - even in doors.

To avoid unnecessary "discomfort/embarrassment" I arranged my PUVA appointments for late afternoon so I did not have to return to work. I only had the evenings then in which to wear the goggles.

However, its easy for me to say as I had control over my own time whilst working and I was only on PUVA for a limited period before I proved hyper-sensitive to the Psoralen tablets and was taken off the treatment.

[tab]

Not had PUVA yet ..

But the Psoralin used makes the eyes very sensitive to light.

You must wear sunglasses ...  

Be safe ..  

[SJ]

I have had PUVA twice now.

I used normal 100% sunglasses and they were tested on my first appt to make sure they were 'safe'.

I wore them from when I took the Psorelan right through to the evening when there was no natural sunlight OR lamps around that gave out UV. So yes, I wore them indoors too. Sometimes that was hard and I did have to lift them occasionaly to see what I was doing (and that was the middle of summer!). But I was told that was OK as long as it wasn't for hours and hours....it was normally seconds or minutes in my case.

With this in mind, I made sure the sunglasses I used were lightweight and comfortable (a bit like those the specs wearing among us wear and use on a daily basis). I even used sunglasses that had very very 'light' lenses to help this (but still were 100% UV proof). The colour of the lenses doesn't mean they aren't UV proof!.

The docs are covering all the bases here. The chances of forming cataracts are tiny apparently, but there is no point in risking your sight for the sake of not wanting to look a prat in the middle of autumn in the daylight!

Best of luck...I have had great clearence using PUVA and I hope you do too!

SJ

[jaitch]

You can get totally clear glasses that are UV protective.  Being in natural light, even indoors, means that you are exposed to UV - it doesn't have to be bright sunshine.  You should wear the glasses indoors where natural light is present.  Technically I think that UVA passes through glass and UVB doesn't.  However I would assume all sorts of UV can cause damage to eyes under PUVA treatment.

James

[lisalu]

Can you not have PUVA treatment where you have a bath in something before treatment?  I was going to have this last time but they let me do UVB again.  I was told the bath option was more time consuming but safer than the tablets.