The therapeutic approach for mycosis fungoides, the most common type of primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, is based mainly on the stage of the disease, and skin-directed treatment is recommended by all international guidelines as the first-line of treatment for early-stage disease. Skin-directed treatments may be also given in combination with systemic therapies in early-stage mycosis fungoides patients recalcitrant to different types of skin-directed treatments, or in certain patients with high-risk features. Advanced-stage mycosis fungoides is treated mainly with systemic treatments, which may be combined with skin-directed treatments.

Due to the rarity of mycosis fungoides, controlled clinical trials of the different skin-directed treatment modalities are almost non-existent, with a few exceptions, and therefore recommendations are largely based on cohort studies and expert opinion.

This paper reviews the new developments in skin-directed treatments and provides an update on new studies of already well-known therapies, and an update on novel treatments.