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Dr. Willy
W. Avrach, M.D. Medical Advisor to the I.P.T.C. Dermatologic Clinic
Dead Sea, Israel
First Published in " CLIMO THERAPY AT THE DEAD SEA, ISRAEL"
by I.P.T.C., International Psoriasis Treatment Center.
| Climatic
treatment has become a well-established modality for
the treatment of Psoriasis, Psoriasis-Arthritis, Atopic
Dermatitis, Exsema and ect., together, with other phototherapeutic
methods. More than 35 years , climatotherapy has been
used at the Dead Sea in Israel. This therapy combines
exposure to high-intensity UVA due to the naturally
filtrated ultraviolet spectrum below sea level with
other natural factors, such as the high concentration
of salts in the Sea. |
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According
to Kushelevsky and Shifrin, the UV content of the sunlight
reaching the Dead Sea in the erythemal band (290-330 nm) is
particularly low, the average stay at the Dead Sea for patients
is 1 month yearly.
Patients of all ages and different forms of psoriasis (mostly
extensive plague-type) are treated at the Dead Sea.
The sun's radiation is usually steady and predictable. It
is furthermore modified by the extra 400 meters (a quarter
of a mile) of atmosphere to be traversed below sea level and
the haze of water vapor and aerosols overlying the Sea itself.
The results of the treatment of psoriasis at the Dead Sea,
without the use of corticosteroids or any internal medication,
are as good as any of the most effective present day modalities
and less dangerous to the patient than most of them. After
a stay of four weeks the majority of patients become free
or almost free of all active skin lesions and the remainder
are nearly all improved. Only very rarely is there no response
or a worsening of the condition. Further research into the
factors responsible for these results is clearly called for
both on its own account and to help advance our understanding
of the disease.
Prof. Zvi Even-Paz, M.D.
Dept. of Dermatology, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem
Former Medical Director, International Psoriasis Treatment
Center, Ein Bokek, Dead Sea
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