Treating skin conditions with UV light can save millions

TREATING severe skin conditions with UV light rather than conventional medication can save the NHS millions and make more patients better more effectively, according to a new study.

Steroid creams are frequently prescribed for skin diseases, but these can cause serious side effects and can prove inadequate to bring diseases such as psoriasis and eczema under control. Patients may then be referred for more intensive treatment, which could include pills, injections or phototherapy.

Researchers at Dundee University have found that the annual per-patient cost of filtered UV light treatment, known as phototherapy, is around £250.

This is one-sixth of the cost attributed to phototherapy by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and a fraction of the estimated £7,000£12,000 annual cost of injectable biologic therapies.

Pharmacologist Dr John Foerster, from the university, who looked at provision in Tayside, found that if phototherapy had not been available in the NHS Tayside area, alternative drug-based treatments would have cost the health board an extra £3,353 per patient each year.

This equates to an average annual saving of £2.2 million for psoriasis patients in Tayside alone.

Dr Foerster predicts that any health board that does not offer sufficient access to phototherapy at present has a real chance of savings in excess of £1m per year by improving availability.

Despite this, the researchers believe misconceptions about the cost of delivering phototherapy and its

efficacy mean that healthcare providers are reluctant to increase availability, with many areas across the UK being poorly served by phototherapy facilities.

Phototherapy can be prescribed to treat conditions such as atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, dyshidrotic eczema, nummular eczema and seborrheic dermatitis.

The most common type of phototherapy used to treat eczema is narrowband ultraviolet B (UVB) light.

Commenting on the findings of the research, Dr Foerster said: “UV light treatment is effective, is less invasive and has fewer side effects than alternative therapies, and can deliver massive cost savings.

“Popping a pill to treat skin conditions may seem a cheap treatment, but staff are still required to carry out blood checks in a lab. It would be fantastic if everyone had the opportunity to try something that circumvents the need for any laboratory monitoring and potential side-effects in the first place.

“Injectable drugs commonly cost £10,000 per patient annually.

“These can be effective but are extremely expensive and so avoiding the need for this, or even for delaying it by a year, can save millions.

“We found that phototherapy treatment costs around £250 per person per year.”

Dr Foerster added: “Each treatment only takes up a very small percentage of the staff members’ overall workload compared to how many treatments are given out.”

The research has been published online by the British Journal of Dermatology.