title: Daylight photodynamic therapy with methylene blue in plane warts: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Conventional photodynamic therapy is associated with inconveniently long clinic visits and discomfort during therapy. Daylight-photodynamic therapy (DL-PDT) is an effective treatment, nearly pain free and more convenient for both the clinics and patients. There are no published studies of methylene blue (MB) as a photosensitizer (PS) used in DL-PDT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty patients had multiple plane warts; 20 patients were subjected to DL-PDT with topical 10% methylene blue gel, and 20 patients were subjected to DL-PDT with hematoxylin (placebo). Improvement was evaluated by change of the number of warts and the dermoscope picture.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 20 (100%) patients in group II showed no response to placebo, 13 patients (65%) in group I showed complete clearance, 2 (10%) patients showed a good response, and 5 (25%) patients had poor response to treatment (P < 0.01). No serious side effects and patients tolerated the pain well. No relapse was detected during the follow-up period (12 months).
  Daylight exposure was not monitored with a dosimeter.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Daylight-PDT using MB is safe, easy to carry out, economic, effective, acceptable cosmetic results with no recurrence, convenient especially for children and nearly painless treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ghada
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4974-9939
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fathy
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Marwa Kamal
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Asaad
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Haval Mohamad
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Rasheed
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D008751:Methylene Blue / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010778:Photochemotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D013472:Sunlight; D014860:Warts / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D008751:Methylene Blue
keywords: daylight photodynamic therapy; methylene blue; photosensitizer; plane warts