Abstract
Although the phototherapy has a long history of thousands of years starting by the sun-worship, modern photo(chemo) therapies have been done based on scientific understandings only for a few decades. Owing to the development of useful artificial light sources, there are various modalities available of photo(chemo) therapies such as PUVA, broad- and narrow-band UVB, UVA-1, and photodynamic therapies. There are also diverse diseases which can be responsive to photo(chemo) therapies, including mainly vitiligo vulgaris, psoriasis, mycosis fungoides, atopic dermatitis, and so on. The immuno-suppressive effects of UV radiation may be involved in the mechanism of therapeutic actions. The carcinogenicity due to DNA damage must be taken into account as a chronic adverse effects after repeated exposures to photo(chemo) therapies.
