Baseline visit
ORAL ULCERS
Patients meeting the inclusion criteria were randomised by the clinical trial pharmacist at Guy’s Hospital and assigned to one of the three treatment groups described above. Clinicians were not involved in the randomisation or the treatment assignment, and thus were blinded to the treatment taken for the first 3 months of the study. However, due to the different mode of administration of the study medications (as colchicine is a tablet and betamethasone is a mouthwash), neither the participants nor the clinical examiner was blinded further than the first 3 months of the trial. Patients were given a standardized diary and shown how to perform self-examination for the recognition of oral ulcers as previously described.