Nail psoriasis is recognized as a common manifestation of psoriasis, occurring from 15% to 79%of patients of psoriasis, with an estimated lifetime incidence of 80–90%.Nail involvement can cause significant physical impairment, pain, and psychological stress and may impair patients in social settings and within the workplace causing a negative impact on quality of life.
Treatment options for nail psoriasis are different including topical treatment, intralesional corticosteroids, biological treatment.Laser treatment includesphotodynamic therapy, pulsed dye laser (PDL),intense pulsed light therapy (IPL), Excimer laser and Nd: YAG laser.
The PDL has been widely used in treating nail psoriasisdue to the highly vascular nature of psoriatic lesions. The most commonly used wavelengths for PDL therapeutic use are 585 and 595 nm, which can effectively reach the nail bed through the nail plate.
The intense pulsed light works on the principle of selective photothermolysis to cause coagulation of the enlarged blood vessels that supply the psoriatic nail. The wavelengths for IPL vascular therapeutic use are 550- to 1,200-nm.