Treatment of psoriasis in children

  Psoriasis in children is most common in the common type, followed by the acute generalized pustular type, and rarely the erythrodermic type and arthritic type of psoriasis.  Treatment principles: find and remove all possible triggering or aggravating factors, such as streptococcal infection of the upper whistle, chronic dental caries, nail fungus, skin cleaning of folds, etc.; topical drug therapy is the main treatment for the common type, and systemic therapy is the main treatment for the acute generalized pustular type; choose suitable treatment methods according to the age of the child, the site of onset and the characteristics of the skin lesions.  1.Topical therapy: Most children can usually achieve good results with topical drugs, and the treatment plan can be selected according to the age and the location of the lesions.  (1) Emollients: There are many kinds of emollients, so try to choose mild and non-irritating ones, which can help normalize the overproliferation of keratinocytes and improve the barrier function of the skin.  (2) Topical glucocorticoid drugs: mainly used for small, persistent skin lesions. It has obvious efficacy, often using weak and medium-acting hormones, and strong hormones can also be used in the palmoplantar area. Long-term application of strong-acting agents in large areas may cause systemic adverse reactions, and may even induce pustular or erythrodermic psoriasis after stopping the drug, which should be avoided.  (3) Vitamin D3 derivatives: including carbostriol and tacalcitol. Vitamin D3 derivatives are well tolerated, safe and effective in children. Carbotriol is mainly used in children over 6 years of age and tacalcitol is used in children over 1 year of age. It is necessary to monitor the metabolites of vitamin D when vitamin D3 derivatives are used long-term in children with psoriasis.  2. Phototherapy: Medium-wave ultraviolet (UVB) light therapy is one of the effective therapies for psoriasis, but should be used with caution in children, except to increase the risk of skin aging and skin cancer, which may affect the immune function of children. Narrow-spectrum UVB (311 nm) is effective in children with psoriasis with relatively few adverse effects. Children should generally avoid the use of photochemotherapy (PUVA) as well as whole-body phototherapy.  3.Antibiotic treatment: mainly used for children with acute common psoriasis and pustular psoriasis, penicillin, erythromycin or other antibiotics can be used, and generally discontinued if there is no obvious efficacy in 2 weeks of treatment.  4. Retinoic acid: It can be used as the first-line drug for children with pustular psoriasis. Pay attention to elevated blood lipids, abnormal liver function and premature epiphyseal closure. It is recommended to review bone age before and 12-18 months after medication. The starting dose of Aveline for domestic children is 0.4-0.5 mg/kg/d, and the dose is gradually reduced after control, and the efficacy is quite satisfactory and safe when used correctly.  5, methotrexate: methotrexate is used in cases where the treatment of vincristine is unsatisfactory, the efficacy and safety of pediatric patients has not yet been much reported, in addition to the common toxic side effects with adults, long-term application can inhibit the growth and development of children. It is generally used for acute pustular psoriasis that cannot be controlled by retinoic acid, 0.2-0.4 mg/kg per week, and the general weekly dose does not exceed 20 mg.  6, cyclosporine: cyclosporine treatment of psoriasis in children is less reported, the general starting dose of 3-5 mg/kg/d for acute pustular psoriasis, and gradually reduce the dose after achieving better efficacy in the short term until the lowest dose that can control the disease, its long-term efficacy is still inaccurate. In the process of using cyclosporine, attention should be paid to hypertension and renal function.  7, biological agents: biological agents represented by TNF-α antagonists have gradually become optional drugs for children with psoriasis in recent years. It has been reported that the maximum sample size of the clinical trial of etanercept for the treatment of children with pustular psoriasis reached 200 cases, and the efficacy and safety were more satisfactory.  8, Chinese medicine: there are many prescriptions for the treatment of psoriasis, and some relatively mild prescriptions can be selected and applied to children. In the author’s experience, oral administration of Chinese herbal medicines that fight infection and regulate immune function has unexpected effects on children’s psoriasis, and can be tried out.  Due to the complexity of the causes of psoriasis, drug treatment is only one of the treatment methods, and comprehensive treatment should be emphasized. The following two points should be noted: for common psoriasis, we should not pursue quick effect too much and reduce the use of topical hormone preparations as much as possible; for acute generalized pustular psoriasis with high fever, the main thing is to strengthen supportive treatment and wait for the condition to improve and then subside naturally, instead of using radical treatment such as systemic corticosteroids and immunosuppressants to forcefully control it.