Exposure to the natural elements of the Dead Sea under physician supervision can help control psoriasis symptoms, according to a newly published scholarly review of 26 studies published on the matter between 1982 and 2021.
If administered properly, that “climatotherapy” approach can be useful even in the “era of biological therapies,” Dr. Marco Harari, of Hadassah Medical Center and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote in the March issue of Israel Medical Association Journal.
Harari, who also has associations with the DMZ Medical Center at Lot Spa Hotel in Ein Bokek on the Dead Sea shore and with the Dead Sea-Arava Science Center, notes that tens of thousands of patients have visited the Dead Sea since 1980.
“More than 10,000 cases have been the subject of clinical and laboratory studies since the natural therapeutic option was discovered for psoriasis management,” he wrote.
“Assessment of patients showed major improvement through several selected parameters,” he added. “Length of the stay and medical supervision positively influenced the major outcomes observed.”
He noted that more work must be done to understand how long the improvement lasts and whether there are long-term side effects.
“Exposure to the unique climatic factors of the region, essentially the sun and the sea, induces fast and significant results with high clearance rates of psoriasis plaques,” he wrote. “Dead Sea climatotherapy still has its place for the control of psoriasis symptoms.”
The next step, Harari noted, would be for a meta-analysis—a deeper statistical assessment—on the topic, beyond his descriptive review.
