Patricia W. Noah

Double-blind treatment of seborrheic dermatitis with 2% ketoconazole cream

Thirty-seven patients with seborrheic dermatitis were treated topically with a 2% ketoconazole cream or its vehicle control in a double-blind study. The subjects were studied for numbers of Malassezia ovalis (Pityrosporum ovale) cells in their scalp scale; changes in numbers of yeast cells and morphology of M. ovalis were tabulated along with clinical assessment of improvement. The 2% ketoconazole cream, but not the placebo cream, reduced the numbers of viable yeast cells on the scalp. The clinical effect of 2% ketoconazole cream was good (75%-95% improvement) or better in eighteen of twenty subjects; the placebo cream produced good results in only three of seventeen subjects treated. Results of this study are consistent with the view that M. ovalis plays a central role in the pathogenesis of seborrheic dermatitis.

Use of rifampin with penicillin and erythromycin in the treatment of psoriasis: Preliminary report

The addition of 5 days of rifampin therapy to a 10- or 14-day course of penicillin or erythromycin therapy has been shown to reduce greatly the rate of chronic streptococcal carriage. The empiric use of rifampin in combination with penicillin or erythromycin in nine of nine patients with streptococcal-associated psoriasis appeared to coincide with a marked improvement in their skin.

Psoriasis Is a Visible Manifestation of the Skin's Defense against Micro‐organisms

The recent discovery that human epidermal cells themselves make and secrete the components necessary for activation of the alternative complement pathway appears to provide an explanation for how human skin is ordinarily able to avoid colonization by molds and other organisms. It also helps clarify the mechanisms underlying clinical and laboratory findings seen in chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, dandruff, and psoriasis. Psoriasis seems best explainable as a visible, late stage of the inflammatory sequelae of activation of the alternative complement pathway in the epidermis.

Efficacy of bimolane in the Malassezia ovalis model of psoriasis.

Bimolane, an analog of razoxane has been used in China with comparable efficacy but less toxicity than razoxane in the treatment of psoriasis. In an attempt to characterize further its mode of action it was administered both systemically and topically in the Malassezia ovalis animal model of psoriasis.