Effects of Rhinophototherapy on Quality of Life in Persistant Allergic Rhinitis

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of rhinophototherapy with medical therapy on quality of life in persistent allergic rhinitis. METHODS: A prospective, randomized study was being performed between December 2009 and March 2010. The study included 65 patients with persistent allergic rhinitis. The diagnosis was confirmed with positive skin tests. All of the patients had house dust mite allergies. We divided the patients into two groups. First group (n=33) was given topical mometasone furoate 200 mcg/day and levocetirizine 5 mg/day for a month. Rhinophototherapy was applied with the same medical therapy to the second group (n=32), twice a week for three weeks continuously. Rhinophototherapy included visible light, ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B. We evaluated patients before the treatment, at the first month and at the third month after treatment with rhinoconjunctivitis quality of life questionnaire, nasal symptom scores and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. RESULTS: Improvements of all variables of the quality of life questionnaire, nasal symptom scores and VAS were statistically significant in the second group both on the first and the third months when compared with the first group. CONCLUSION: Allergic rhinitis is a social problem and impairs quality of life. Rhinophototherapy with medical therapy improves the quality of life in allergic rhinitis.