Plaque psoriasis has a relatively high prevalence in adolescence, resulting in a significant impact on quality of life, including social interactions.

The primary objective was to assess the safety of once‐daily application of fixed‐combination calcipotriol plus betamethasone dipropionate gel in adolescent scalp psoriasis. Assessment of efficacy was a secondary objective.

This phase II, multicentre, single‐arm, open‐label, 8‐week trial included patients aged 12–17 years with moderate‐to‐very severe scalp psoriasis according to Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA) (≥ 10% of the scalp area affected).

Seventy‐eight patients received treatment. Twenty‐seven patients (35%) reported a total of 64 adverse events (AEs); most were mild (33/64) or moderate (22/64) in severity and there were no serious AEs. No cases of hypercalcaemia were reported, and the mean changes from baseline to end of treatment in albumin‐corrected serum calcium (0·00 mmol L⁻¹), 24‐h urinary calcium excretion (−0·03 mmol per 24 h) and urinary calcium‐to‐creatinine ratio (−0·12 mmol g⁻¹) were not considered clinically relevant. At the end of treatment 66 patients (85%) were clear or almost clear according to IGA. There was an 80% improvement in mean Total Sign Score from baseline to end of treatment. In total, at the end of treatment, 87% of patients rated their scalp psoriasis as clear or very mild, and 75 (96%) had no or mild pruritus compared with 14 (18%) at baseline.

Once‐daily calcipotriol plus betamethasone dipropionate gel is well tolerated and efficacious for scalp psoriasis in adolescents.