EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF METHOTREXATE IN CHRONIC ACTINIC DERMATITIS: A PILOT STUDY

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of methotrexate in chronic actinic dermatitis. METHODS: Clinically and biopsy proven cases of chronic actinic dermatitis were included in study after fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Patients were given methotrexate according to protocol and efficacy was noted according to improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score. Side effects were noted for safety evaluation. RESULTS: A total of thirty patients, 27 male and 3 females, with a mean age of 57.5±9.91 years, were included in study. Duration of disease was 1year in 5 patients, 2-5 years in 14 patients, 6-10 year in 8 patients and 10 years in 6 patients. Twenty seven patients received 10mg and 3 patients received dose of 15mg.Twenty nine patients completed 6 months of methotrexate therapy. One patient stopped treatment because of mild gastrointestinal side effects and deranged liver function tests (LFTs). Serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) was 3 time above normal when treatment was stopped. Patients were evaluated at st th 1 week, 4 week and monthly for 6 months. Six patients (20%) showed complete recovery, 13 (43%) showed 50-75% recovery, 7 (23%) showed 25-49% recovery while rest showed no improvement. Means of initial and final PASI score showed significant results with P 0.0001. The clinical response to treatment was observed at 4-6 weeks which reached to maximum in 4-6 months. CONCLUSION: We found methotrexate to be a potentially efficacious and safe drug in the treatment and a steroid sparing drug in chronic actinic dermatitis.