Treatment of psoriasis of the scalp with coal tar gel and shampoo preparations.

Psoriatic lesions on the scalp are cosmetically troublesome and present problems for therapy, particularly over a long-term period. A gel containing refined coal tar in solution (psoriGel) was effective in clearing or markedly improving psoriasis of the scalp in 83 percent of 112 patients. The study population included thirty-five patients who were unresponsive to other therapies. The treatment regimen described here used tar gel for five days, vegetable oil soaking for the sixth day, and no treatment on the seventh day. This procedure reduced considerably the tendency of tar gel to cause drying of the skin. Fifty percent of the patients remained in remission for about three months using a nontar shampoo. However, using a tar shampoo (Ionil T), the median remission time was extended to over eight months with 30 percent of the patients still in remission thirteen months later. No adverse reactions were reported.