In the present study the IL-18 expression in patients receiving topical steroids was significantly lower in non-lesional skin than lesional skin before and after treatment. After 2 months of treatment, IL-18 expression levels returned back to low values but not significantly lower than the lesional skin levels of expression before treatment. In patients receiving methotrexate non-lesional skin expression was significantly lower than lesional skin before treatment. Also the expression levels decreased after treatment but still not statistically significantly when compared to lesional skin before treatment.