Stands for Psoralen UVA treatment.
This is a common treatment for vitiligo, consisting of a drug called psoralen (applied to the skin or taken orally), plus regulated doses of sunlight or ultraviolet light. It is intended to darken areas affected by vitiligo, to bring them back to the original skin tone.
Patients can take from three to four months to see the effects PUVA.
Because psoralen has been linked to skin cancer, particularly sqamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, PUVA should be used a limited number of times in a patient's lifetime. The recommended maximum is 200 treatments. Patients using PUVA treatments should also closely monitor skin and moles for early signs of skin cancer.