Treatment of psoriasis with zinc sulphate cream 2.5% in comparison with clobetasol propionate cream

Abstract

Background: Psoriasis is a common, distressing dermatological disease with no unique curative systemic or topical treatment. Zinc has been described in many literatures as an effective treatment for many dermatological diseases so that zinc sulphate is used in this study as a topical treatment of psoriasis. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of topical zinc sulphate cream 2.5% in treatment of psoriasis, in comparison with clobetasol propionate cream 0.05% alone and zinc sulphate 2.5% plus clobetasol propionate 0.05% cream . Patients and Methods: A total 131 patients with psoriasis vulgaris who were consulting Department of Dermatology and Venereology of Al –Sadder teaching hospital in Basrah during a period from Dec. 2004 through Aug. 2006 were enrolled in this study. They were 65 (49.6%) females and 66(50.4%) males, with female: male ratio 1:1.1. Patients were divided into three groups; patients in group I were treated with zinc sulphate cream 2.5%, while group II patients were treated with clobetasol propionate cream 0.05% and patients in group III were treated with zinc sulphate2.5% plus clobetasol propionate cream. All patients were followed up for 12 weeks. >Results: The Study showed that Zinc sulphate cream induced marked remission in about 53.3% of the cases; with relapse rate 75% three weeks after cessation of treatment, while topical clobetasol propionate induced marked remission in 74.4% of the cases with relapse rate 78% three weeks after stopping the treatment , further more the combination of zinc sulphate with clobetasol propionate cream induced marked remission in 83.7% of the cases, with relapse rate77.8% three weeks after cessation of treatment . Mild burning sensation at the treated site is the only side effect of zinc sulphate which was reported in 26.1% of the cases. Conclusion: Zinc sulphate is an effective treatment of psoriasis but the combination of zinc sulphate plus clobetasol propionate was proved to be more effective than zinc sulphate and clobetasol propionate alone and zinc sulphate did not decrease the relapse rate.