Prevalence of herbal therapy usage in patients with psoriasis in Turkey

Abstract

Many patients with psoriasis look for treatment options other than conventional treatment to control their disease with less side effects. We evaluated the prevalence and characteristics of herbal therapy usage among patients with psoriasis in Turkey. A self-prepared questionnaire about herbal therapies was applied to the psoriatic patients attended our dermatology clinic between October 2013 and December 2013. A total of 100 patients (55 male, 45 female; 7 - 80 years of age) were included in this study. Fortynine percent of patients used at least one form of herbal therapies. Juniperus oxycedrus and Aloe vera were found to be the most frequently used plants. 36.7% of the patients get benefit from herbal therapy. Only 12.2% of patients had informed their clinicians during or after herbal therapy usage. 22.4% of the patient had continued conventional treatment during herbal therapies. Side effects related with herbal therapy were developed in 26.5% of the patients. The risk of side effects was found to be 5.23 times more in patients using phytotherapies systemically compared with ones using topically. Our results show that herbal therapy usage is common among patients with psoriasis in Turkey. Since herbal therapies have the potential of interacting with the medical treatment modalities and causing life threatening allergic reactions, clinicians should be aware of plants used in psoriasis and possible adverse reactions related with them and also should not forget asking about herbal therapy history.