Efficacy of Bee Venom Phonophoresis in Treatment of Plaque Psoriasis

Approximately 75% of patients believe that psoriasis has had moderate to significant adverse effects on their quality of life, while suicide is considered in at least 20% of patients with psoriasis (Krueger et al., 2001). Recently, psoriasis has been proven as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Also, joint arthritis, pulmonary disease, and insomnia are associated with psoriasis (Azfar et al., 2012). The bee venom (BV) has been used for an extended period as a therapeutic agent. It has been administered through injection by a syringe, directly from a bee sting, or injected into an acupuncture point-related disorder (Han et al., 2015). The evidence collected shows that BV has anti-inflammatory, atherosclerotic, and fibrotic properties (Zhang et al., 2018). For many psoriasis patients, topical treatment is sufficient and there may be no need for additional systemic medications. These medicinal products have serious side effects (Lebwohl & Ali, 2001). So it is important to search for safe, and natural topical treatment. Phonophoresis is a technique in which drugs, usually analgesic or anti-inflammatory drugs, are introduced into the subcutaneous tissues via intact skin by therapeutic ultrasound. In common inflammatory conditions, phonophoresis can provide a harmless and painless replacement for injections using numerous anti-inflammatory drugs (Kuntz et al., 2006).The development of effective methods to treat significant diseases, including skin diseases, is one of the priorities in the physical therapy field (Kruglov et al., 2012).Introducing Bee venom as a topical treatment or through therapeutic ultrasound as an alternative to injection was investigated in rare or no studies So this study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of ultrasound enhanced-bee venom (bee venom phonophoresis) as a new treatment approach on plaque psoriasis.