Acitretin or Tazarotene Gel and Excimer Laser for Treatment of Psoriasis

Inclusion Criteria:

Must give written informed consent
Must be at least 18 years old
Must have been diagnosed with stable plaque type psoriasis covering between 1 and 5% BSA
NPF-PS ≥8 (based additive scores averaged over all lesions for erythema, scale, and thickness range of score = 0-5)
No systemic or phototherapy in the 4 wks prior to entering the study
No topical therapy other than emollients (no corticosteroids, vitamin D analogs, vitamin A analogs) in the 2 wks prior to entering the study
Women on tazarotene gel must not be pregnant nor planning to become pregnant during the study and must be on two forms of birth control
Subjects known to not tolerate oral acitretin at 25 mg/day and women of child-bearing potential may be enrolled and treated with topical tazarotene gel 0.1%

Exclusion Criteria:

Candidates will be excluded from study entry if any of the following exclusion criteria exist at the time of enrollment:

Unstable disease
Only treatable sites are in intertriginous areas or on face
Subjects unable to tolerate frequency of visits
NPF-PS severity score <8 additive score of erythema, scale, and thickness, averaged over all lesions
History of inability to tolerate topical tazarotene 0.1% gel and or acitretin 25 mg/day
Women of childbearing potential are excluded from the actretin arm of the study.