Narrowband (NB) UV-B (311-313 nm) phototherapy was recently reported to be an effective adjunctive treatment for moderate to severe chronic atopic dermatitis (AD) and was found to be more effective than irradiation with broadband UV-A (320-400 nm) or visible light (>400 nm).¹ We herein report the findings of our half-side comparison study in patients with AD on the efficacy of NB UV-B vs medium-dose UV-A1 (340-400 nm), a specific form of UV-A phototherapy that in recent years was introduced for the treatment of AD.²

Nine patients (6 women, 3 men; median age, 27 years; age range, 23-41 years) with chronic AD (median disease duration, 22 years; range, 2-33 years) according to the criteria published by Hanifin and Rajka³ were enrolled in the study after giving their informed consent. Exclusion criteria included local treatment with corticosteroids within the last 2 weeks or systemic treatment with antibiotics, corticosteroids, or other immunosuppressive drugs within the last 4 weeks.