Sunlight has been used to treat various diseases including Psoriasis since antiquity. There is little doubt that the ultraviolet rays of the sun will clear Psoriasis for many patients. Using natural sunlight, or Heliotherapy to treat Psoriasis is not only effective, but essentially free assuming no lost work hours are involved. Many of my own patients experience a significant clearing of their Psoriasis after moving to sunny Orlando from a more northern state.
Heliotherapy is easy when you have a private place to sun bathe and no worries about missing work at noontime. But what about apartment-dwellers whose only place to lay in the sun is at a shared pool or yard? More often than not I find that patients with moderate to severe Psoriasis would rather pass on Heliotherapy than to let their neighbors see the same rashy skin they otherwise take great care to hide or cover up.
Finding time, finding a place, and overcoming embarassment are just the up-front intangible costs of heliotherapy. Heliotherapy has late costs too, an "end load" if you will that should not be taken lightly: a signficantly increased risk of skin cancers and pre-cancers. This doesn't rule out heliotherapy as a useful tool, but it should be likened to other Psoriasis treatments all of which have their own risks, benefits, alternatives.
