Thermographic assessment of psoriasic plaques

Thermography was used to quantify erythema in psoriasic plaques in a group of ten patients before and after treatment with acitretin. Thermographically, when compared to the surrounding normal skin, the sites of psoriasic plaques appeared as hot areas. There was a good correlation in postreatment thermography between the clinical assessment of the plaque and the thermographic parameter. Nine of the plaques in the pretreatment assessment presented a hot area that evaded the visible limit of the lesion and this area had disappeared in the plaques with partial or complete remission after treatment but not in the one that showed no improvement. Thermography is a non-invasive technique that, apparently, could be used to assess lesional activity in psoriasic plaques.