Increased Trend of Cosmetic Procedures in Patients With Psoriasis Who Attain 75% or Greater Improvement.

Background: The relationship between the clearance of psoriasis and improved quality of life together with an increased uptake of cosmetic procedures has not been reported to date. Objective: A survey was conducted at a single dermatology center to determine if there was an increased trend in cosmetic procedures in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis who attained 75% or greater reduction of the body surface area (BSA) with biologic agents and oral systemic therapies, and if this was related to an improvement in quality of life following psoriasis clearance. Study Design: In this case series, 138 patients with a history of moderate to severe psoriasis who attained 75% or greater body surface area (BSA) reduction with biologic agents or oral systemic therapies and had undergone at least one cosmetic procedure in the past 2 years were surveyed. Patient characteristics were collected including age, sex, percent BSA at initiation of therapy, the class of biologic or oral systemic therapies, and the different types of cosmetic procedures. Patients were asked to answer a 5-question survey on quality of life improvement, satisfaction with treatment, and correlation with the cosmetic procedure they had undergone, Patients also completed the Dermatology Quality of Life Index (DLQI) questionnaire in the survey. Results: The majority of patients who had undergone a cosmetic procedure after achieving 75% BSA stated that their psoriasis had previously prevented them from undergoing a cosmetic procedure. Regardless of therapy, all patients felt their quality of life had improved as a result of their treatment, and 91% of patients stated this was the impetus to undergo a cosmetic procedure. The mean DLQI score prior to therapy was 14.3 and 71% of patients reported a DLQI score of 0/1 after their psoriasis improved. Conclusion: There was a correlation between improvement in quality of life in patients who had achieved at least a 75% reduction in BSA with either a biologic agent, oral agent, or both, and the uptake of cosmetic procedures. J Drugs Dermatol. 2020;19(8): doi:10.36849/JDD.2020.5104R1.