Empowering heliotherapy in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis: An observational study of 186 subjects

Abstract

Psoriasis and atopic dermatitis (AD) have a negative impact on patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (1, 2). There is a long tradition of heliotherapy (HT) in the Canary Islands for the treatment of Finnish patients with psoriasis and AD (3, 4), and the courses have recently been updated to include more empowering elements. The present model of empowering heliotherapy (EHT) consists of meeting peers, adopting a healthy lifestyle, performing exercise, and gaining increased autonomy. The benefits of the new EHT have been shown for patients with psoriasis and those with AD (5, 6). This study is a sequel to our pilot study (5) and provides more evidence of the effects of EHT.