Treatment of erythropoietic protoporphyria with beta-carotene.

We have found that beta-carotene, when administered in sufficiently high doses, can be an effective therapy for ameliorating the photosensitivity associated with EPP. Other workers have confirmed our findings, using either beta-carotene, canthaxanthin or combinations of these two carotenoids. Carotenoids may be of some use in congenital porphyria, if given in high doses and started when the patient is very young. Carotenoid treatment seems of limited use in polymorphous light eruption, solar urticaria, hydroa aestivale and hydroa vacciniforme: we would recommend their use in these conditions only after the more standard treatments for these diseases have proven ineffective for a given patient. Carotenoid treatment seems to be of no use in porphyria cutanea tarda and actinic reticuloid.