Mass General Hospital

Services & Specialties

• Contact Dermatitis & Occupational Dermatology Clinic
• Dermatologic Surgery Unit
• Medical Dermatology
• MGH Dermatology Laser & Cosmetics Center
• Khosrow Momtaz Phototherapy Center
• MGH Melanoma Center/Pigmented Lesion Center

• Dermatology Health A-Z
• Research & Clinical Trials
• Harvard Medical School Dermatology

Khosrow Momtaz Phototherapy Treatment Center

Named after one of the world's leading phototherapy doctors, the Khosrow Momtaz Phototherapy Center, now located in Suite 230, 50 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114 is an integral part of the Massachusetts General Hospital. It represents the Department of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School, close to the main Massachusetts General Hospital campus. Our unit delivers more than 13,000 outpatient ultraviolet radiation treatments each year. Founded in 1974, this treatment center is one of the first of its kind in the United States and one of the largest, too. In fact, PUVA was discovered and first introduced in 1974 in this unit under the direction of the late Professor Thomas Fitzpatrick, M.D. Under its current director, Dr. Charles R. Taylor, M.D., the Khosrow Momtaz Phototherapy Center was also the first ultraviolet light facility in the United States to introduce narrow-band UVB phototherapy and one of very few units to have UVA-1 and PUVA bath capabilities. More than 30 different cutaneous diseases are treated in this unit, most commonly psoriasis, atopic eczema, lymphoma, vitiligo (loss of skin color), pruritus (itching), prurigo nodularis (picker's bumps disease), actinic keratosis (pre-skin cancers, and polymorphic light eruption ("sun poisoning"), for example.

Amply equipped with ALL the latest technological innovations, this unit delivers phototherapy of ALL types, namely:

- Broad-band UVB phototherapy for total body
- Narrow-band UVB phototherapy for total body
- Directed narrow-band phototherapy for hands & feet
- Broad-band UVA phototherapy
- Combination broad-band UVB and UVA phototherapy
- Combination narrow-band UVB and UVA phototherapy
- Combination narrow-band UVB with PUVA photochemotherapy
- Directed local UVA-1 phototherapy
- Total body UVA-1 phototherapy
- Directed high dose targeted UVA phototherapy
- Directed high dose targeted UVB phototherapy
- Photodynamic therapy with blue light and ALA
- Oral PUVA photochemotherapy for total body
- Soak PUVA photochemotherapy for hands and feet
- Bath PUVA photochemotherapy for total body, including standard and polyethylene sheet variants
- Broad band UVB, UVA, and visible light testing
- Photopatch testing services

Also available for the appropriate patients are many of the current biological therapies aimed at treating various chronic inflammatory diseases. It must be borne in mind that all of these therapies for these many different skin conditions are not curative. They can lead to a remission, but as often happens with disorders such as psoriais and eczema, for example, there are periods of flaring, which require restarting the phototherapy. In most cases, treatments need to be given about three times per week to get a particular condition under control. Once substantially improved, which can take anywhere from several months for psoriasis to much longer for some disorders such the skin malignancy known as T-cell lymphoma, the frequency of treatment can be slowly decreased. So, in short, these treatments do a great job of controlling many skin diseases, but as with any chronic diseases maintenance treatments are required. Just as the patient who suffers from arthritis many need to take regular medications and come for physical therapy indefinitely and intermittently this is also true for many chronic skin conditions. Phototherapy is not generally curative.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call 617-643-2688.