Improvement of refractory psoriasis vulgaris after tonsillectomy.

In order to ascertain what effect tonsillectomy may have in the treatment of children and adolescents with recurring psoriasis vulgaris, refractory to topical therapy and courses of penicillin, and triggered by infection, and also to test a possible correlation between tonsillitis and exacerbations of psoriasis, a retrospective study of the course of psoriasis after tonsillectomy, using charts and questionnaires, was undertaken in 74 psoriatic patients. Each patient served as his won control. The average age of the patients at tonsillectomy and the duration of psoriasis were 14.2 years and 4.5 years, respectively, while the average follow-up period was 4.5 years. The clearing of the psoriasis was statistically significant (p less than 0.01) as it occurred throughout the entire follow-up period in one-third of the patients, while an additional third noticed considerable improvement of their psoriasis. After trying tropical therapies of various sorts as well as courses of penicillin, tonsillectomy might be considered for recurring, refractory psoriasis vulgaris in children and adolescents.