Traditional systemic treatment of psoriasis.

Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease with a chronic relapsing course. In about 20%-30% of psoriatic patients, disease severity requires systemic treatment, which carries a huge economic and management burden for the healthcare system. The decision to employ systemic treatment, reserved for severe or extensive forms, needs to be weighed carefully and is influenced by factors from the host. Each form of treatment, i.e., photochemotherapy, cyclosporin A, methotrexate, acitretin - considered the traditional psoriatic treatments - should be evaluated for each specific clinical condition.