{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T20:17:38Z","timestamp":1780085858574,"version":"3.54.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,30]],"date-time":"2021-08-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1630281600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Psoriasis is a major global health problem. There is a need to develop techniques to help physicians select the most appropriate cost-effective therapy for each patient. The main objectives of this study are (1) to evaluate changes in epidermal barrier function and skin homeostasis after phototherapy and (2) to explore potentially predictive values in epidermal barrier function and skin homeostasis to assess clinical improvement after fifteen sessions of phototherapy. A total of 76 subjects, 38 patients with plaque-type psoriasis and 38 gender- and age-matched healthy volunteers, were included in the study. Erythema, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), temperature, stratum corneum hydration (SCH), pH, sebum, and antioxidant capacity were measured before and after the first and fifteenth phototherapy session. Erythema (401.09 vs. 291.12 vs. 284.52 AU, p &lt; 0.001) and TEWL (18.23 vs. 11.44 vs. 11.41 g\u00b7m\u22122\u00b7h\u22121, p &lt; 0.001) were significantly higher at psoriatic plaques than in uninvolved psoriatic skin and healthy volunteers, respectively, while SCH was lower (9.71 vs. 44.64 vs. 40.00 AU, p &lt; 0.001). After fifteen phototherapy sessions, TEWL (\u20135.19 g\u00b7m\u22122\u00b7h\u22121, p = 0.016) decreased while SCH (+7.01 AU, p = 0.013) and erythema (+30.82 AU, p = 0.083) increased at psoriatic plaques. An erythema increase exceeding 53.23 AU after the first phototherapy session, with a sensitivity of 71.4% and specificity of 84.2%, indicates that a patient may improve Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) by \u22653 points after fifteen phototherapy sessions. In conclusion, phototherapy improves epidermal barrier function in psoriatic patients and the erythema increase after one phototherapy session could help doctors select psoriasis patients who are more likely to respond to phototherapy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm10173897","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,30]],"date-time":"2021-08-30T22:49:51Z","timestamp":1630363791000},"page":"3897","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Erythema Increase Predicts Psoriasis Improvement after Phototherapy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Trinidad","family":"Montero-Vilchez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Dermatology Department, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Avenida de Madrid, 15, 18012 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Biosanitaria GRANADA, 18012 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Martinez-Lopez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dermatology Department, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Avenida de Madrid, 15, 18012 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Biosanitaria GRANADA, 18012 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4511-408X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alvaro","family":"Sierra-Sanchez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Biosanitaria GRANADA, 18012 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miguel","family":"Soler-Gongora","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, 18001 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eladio","family":"Jimenez-Mejias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Epidemiology and Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, 18012 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6882-2113","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alejandro","family":"Molina-Leyva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dermatology Department, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Avenida de Madrid, 15, 18012 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Biosanitaria GRANADA, 18012 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Agustin","family":"Buendia-Eisman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, 18001 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4186-1435","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Salvador","family":"Arias-Santiago","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dermatology Department, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Avenida de Madrid, 15, 18012 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Biosanitaria GRANADA, 18012 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, 18001 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"983","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(14)61909-7","article-title":"Psoriasis","volume":"386","author":"Boehncke","year":"2015","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1759720X19886505","DOI":"10.1177\/1759720X19886505","article-title":"The role of epigenetics and immunological imbalance in the etiopathogenesis of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis","volume":"11","author":"Frischknecht","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ther. 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