Light Therapy
Light therapy or heliotherapy is actually an ancient treatment that has been recorded up to 3500 years ago when Egyptian and Indian practitioners used the ingestion of plants in addition to sunlight for treating "leucoderma".
Today we would recognise this as psoralen and UV therapy for treatment of vitiligo. UVA and UVB, in particular have a very complex interaction with the epidermis and dermis resulting in a suppression of immune and inflammatory cells of the skin which are present in various diseases. The benefit of phototherapy, as opposed to going out in the sun, is that the treatment is concentrated light from only wavelength (310nm – UVB and 360nm - UVA) minimising your risk of sunburn and skin cancer.
At Gold Coast Dermatology Clinic we use both UVB and UVA light therapy to treat a range of conditions.
Lichen planus
Vitiligo
Morphea
Mycosis Fungoides.