Psoriasis - no Alphosyl cream any more - help!!!!

[AnonymousBird]

I suffer quite badly from Psoraisis, it comes and goes and at the moment it has come with bells on. I am on some hard core treatment (medication and steroid creams) to get it under control and in the past, once it has stopped flaring, the very best non-steroid cream to get my skin comfortable again has been Alphosyl. I have used it for 20 years I think. Anyway, I discovered, following my recent flare up, that it was discontinued 18 months ago and is no longer available on either prespcription or to buy and I am absolutely gutted.

Does anyone have a suitable substitute for Alphosyl? Ie. effective but not ultra strong for the psoriasis once it is under control a bit and to keep it at bay? Preferably one I can buy rather than go to the doctor for, but if it needs to be via the doc, then so be it.

Thanks.

Hi Anonymous, I share your pain as I found Alphosyl cream fantastic. For a while I used Exorex lotion, which is also a coal tar based cream and can be bought over the counter. It's more expensive than a prescription (if you have to pay for them) about £15 a bottle. Be sure to check that the one you buy has the active ingredient as there are moisturisers in the same range without it. At the moment I'm using Dovonex, which seemed to take a few weeks to have an impact but is definitely working now. Good luck, psoriasis is a hateful thing as it's so unpredictable.

Good to hear from you Skiving, and sorry that you suffer too. Just awful isn't it? Alphosyl was discontinued purely for commerical reasons - I can't believe that everyone with the condition wasn't using it and that they weren't making loads of money out of it!!!! Gutted gutted. I am going to investigate if it is still sold overseas... unlikely, but worth a shot.

Anyway, I really appreciate your recommendations, though when i was on the PA website, I noticed that Dovonex is also being discontinued. Link attached, I am sorry to break the news, so stock up now if you can is the advice.

psoriasis-association.org.uk/news-and-views/view/dovonex-cream-discontinued

Thanks for the update Anon, I think the pharma companies must be plotting against me! I've not searched the web for latest developments in treatment for years so thanks for the link.

Why the f are they doing this? A ploy to get you back to the doctors ? Could you find out if they plan to replace it with a similar but more effective one? stocking up is not really a good idea as they all have sell by dates though better than nothing

Dovonex ointment will still be available. My derm reckons ointments are more effective but they are so much messier. Can't get dovonex scalp solution now.

Kitten - you are so right, thanks for that, I hadn't read closely enough.

What are your go to ointments? Any tips? If I know the names of what is out there now and is available, I will go to the GP and get prescriptions.