How effective is PUVA therapy for mycosis fungoides?

PUVA combines a light-sensitising medicine with a carefully measured dose of UVA. The medicine helps UVA affect abnormal skin-resident T cells, which can reduce patches or plaques in selected cases. Treatment is supervised and usually repeated on a schedule, with the dose adjusted according to skin response. It is mainly a skin-directed option; it does not replace staging or treatment for disease involving other sites. Improvement may take a course of visits, and disease can return after an initial response. Your haematology or dermatology team will judge benefit through skin examination and ongoing monitoring.

Tell the team about eye disease, liver problems, medicines that increase light sensitivity, previous skin cancers, and pregnancy or breastfeeding. Take the sensitising medicine exactly as prescribed, attend the planned light sessions, and use the required eye protection during and after exposure. Avoid extra ultraviolet exposure unless your clinician gives specific instructions. Keep a record of new patches, itching, blistering, or unusual sensitivity so the dose can be reviewed. Do not stop oncology follow-up when the skin looks clearer; monitoring remains part of care.

Contact your treatment team promptly for severe redness, blistering, painful burns, eye pain, visual change, or a new persistent skin lesion. Seek urgent help for fever with rapidly worsening skin, severe weakness, or symptoms suggesting a serious medicine reaction such as facial swelling or breathing difficulty.

Is my disease limited to skin, and what response are we aiming for? How will dosing be adjusted? What monitoring continues after the course, and what options follow if patches return?