[Interferon in skin diseases].

In the dermatological field, interferon is used in clinical trials for viral skin diseases and for malignant skin tumors such as malignant melanoma. In regard to viral diseases, clinical trials have shown promising results in viral warts, herpes simplex and herpes zoster. In the double-blind trial, patients with bilateral common warts of the extremities were treated at weekly intervals with intralesional injections of either human fibroblast interferon or placebo. More than 81% of the interferon-treated extremities were either cured by or responded effectively to the therapy, while only 17% of the placebo responded. Although our data has confirmed that interferon is effective in the treatment of common warts diseases, the method of application and repeated injections indicate that this therapy may not be helpful in routine cases but only in selected patients in whom other therapy has failed. However, development of new delivery systems or modification of dosages may increase the value of interferon therapy for warts disease. Interferon seems also effective for herpes zoster. But herpes zoster usually regresses spontaneously within three weeks, therefore, it is not easy to define efficacy of interferon in this disease. Therefore, we need to examine the effect of interferon on herpes zoster both in placebo controlled and double-blind trials involving patients with immunocompromised diseases.