The Effect of Treatment on the Vascular Component of the Psoriatic Lesion

Abstract

Introduction It is an accepted fact that in a psoriatic lesion the superficial vasculature is abnormal. Prominent, elongated, papillary capillaries are so consistently present as to be a part of the typical histologic picture of psoriasis. These abnormal capillaries have been demonstrated many times by capillary microscopy.^1-3 The superficial vessels have also been implicated as being important in development of the Koebner phenomenon in psoriasis. Little attention has been given to the condition of the vessels during various stages of the evolution of a psoriatic lesion or to their appearance when the lesion disappears. This paper presents our observations on the effect of therapy on the highly characteristic vascular abnormality seen in psoriatic lesions. Methods We have studied the vascular pattern in over 100 patients with psoriasis, utilizing the cellophanetape-stripping technique of capillary microscopy described by Davis and Lorincz.⁴ For this study eight patients were observed by