Ixekizumab improves disease severity, clinical symptoms and quality of life in patients with genital psoriasis: A 24-week real-life experience

Genital psoriasis (GenPs) has been traditionally considered a difficult to treat psoriasis area. Ixekizumab was the first biologic agent demonstrating efficacy and safety in a formal clinical trial on GenPs; however, real-life experiences are limited. To assess real-life effectiveness and safety of ixekizumab in the treatment of GenPs in a case series of patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Adult patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis involving the genital area received subcutaneous ixekizumab. Evaluation of disease severity, clinical symptoms, and quality of life was performed at baseline, after 4, 16, and 24 weeks of treatment. Assessment tools were: Static Physician's Global Assessment of Genitalia (sPGA-G), Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score, Itch Numerical-Rating-Score (Itch-NRS), and Dermatology-Life-Quality-Index (DLQI). Adverse events were recorded. A total of 14 patients were treated with ixekizumab achieving consistent and significant reduction of disease and quality of life parameters, with a mean percentage reduction from baseline to week 24 of 91.4% for sPGA-G, 95.2% for PASI, 95.6% for Itch-NRS, and 93.7% for DLQI. Ixekizumab treatment was well tolerated. Ixekizumab significantly improved disease severity, itch, and quality of life with an acceptable safety profile in a real-life setting in adult patients affected by GenPs.