Calcipotriol Plus Betamethasone Versus Betamethasone in Treatment of Scalp Psoriasis in an Iranian Population

Background: Psoriasis is one of the most common skin diseases with prevalence rate of 1.4% to 2.9%. The scalp type of this disease is also common. This study was conducted to compare the efficacy and drug complications of single and combination regimens. Methods: Fifty-four patients with scalp psoriasis were randomly divided to 2 groups. In one group (n = 27) betamethasone and calcipotriol (B + C) were administered simultaneously and in the other group (n = 23) betamethasone was administered alone. Clinical status of patients before the treatment, baseline, and 8 weeks after treatment were compared in both groups based on TSS, IGA, and PGA scores. Results: The goal of this study was to evaluate Tss < 1, absence of disease based on IGA, and cleared disease according to PGA. The intensity of the clinical symptoms based on IGA was significantly better in the combination therapy group compared with the monotherapy group at the end of the treatment (P value of 0.04). Furthermore, patients of the calcipotriol group reached a better status compared to the control group (P value of 0.007). Comparison of the basic TSS and TSS at eight weeks showed a significant difference between the two groups after termination of the treatment (P = 0.004). Conclusions: It could be concluded that combination therapy is a reliable and low-complication method compared with the single-drug regimen and is more effective with better efficacy.