Topical therapy with corticosteroids and tacrolimus, a calcineurin inhibitor which is useful as a break from steroids, is also in place before she considers the introduction of systemic therapy starting with antimalarials.
To prevent lasting scarring in discoid LE patients with scalp involvement, Dr. Vleugels moves beyond systemic therapy, adding intralesional steroid injections. She typically takes triamcinolone (Kenalog) that comes in a concentration of 10 mg/cc, and dilutes it 1-to-1 with normal saline, for a final concentration of 5 mg/cc. She uses 0.1 cc of the diluted product per injection through a 30- or 31-gauge needle, picking the most inflamed areas of the scalp and placing the injections about 1 cm apart.
"One patient can tolerate only about 25 injections per day, sometimes fewer than that," Dr. Vleugels said, eliciting audience gasps. "You’d be surprised: Even our kids with scalp disease can tolerate injections fairly well because of the very small needle we use."
She has the patient return for another series of scalp injections in 5-6 weeks.
Dr. Vleugels reported having no financial conflicts.