An 18-year-old woman comes to the clinic because of a 4-month history of a "red rash" on her elbows, knees, and around her "belly button." She noticed the lesions during the winter, but was not particularly concerned because they were covered up by pants and long sleeves. Now it is summer and she is too embarrassed to wear shorts or a bathing suit. She has no significant past medical history, is up-to-date on her immunizations, and has not traveled recently. She takes no medications and has no known allergies. She tries to avoid all sun exposure because she tends to "burn, not tan." Physical examination shows erythematous plaques on her elbows, knees, and umbilicus. There is a silvery scale covering the majority of each lesion that bleed when you scrape it. The remainder of the examination is unremarkable. The most appropriate next step is to
A. advise her to avoid sun exposure, especially direct sunlight on the lesions
B. biopsy each lesion and send for histologic evaluation
C. inject each lesion with a medium-potency corticosteroid
D. prescribe a medium-potency corticosteroid ointment and topical calcipotriene
E. refer her to a dermatologist
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