Treatment of refractory psoriasis with fluocinonide gel.

Twenty patients with refractory psoriasis that had responded poorly to previous therapy were treated with fluocinonide gel (0.05 percent), unoccluded, for six weeks. Patients were evaluated weekly. By the sixth week, all patients had improved, and seventeen (85 percent) showed "excellent" improvement. One patient discontinued the trial after four weeks because the lesions had completely cleared. No other patient discontinued using the medication for any reason. Patient complaints were minimal and consisted of stinging (three patients), itching (two patients), and drying (two patients). The study suggests that fluocinonide gel (0.05 percent) is a cosmetically acceptable alternative for the treatment of refractory psoriasis.