The treatment of erythropoietic protoporphyria.

Abstract
In a group of 19 subjects suffering from erythropoietic protoporphyria, administration of .beta.-carotene appeared to produce improvement based on a subjective assessment of alterations in exposure times required to produce the symptoms and signs of the condition. This clinical improvement failed to show a direct correlation with porphyrin levels in blood and feces, or with the estimation by phototesting of the minimal response dose within the action spectrum of 400-600 nm.