More than three million people in the world have psoriasis. Twenty percent of the patients with psoriasis are children. On average, psoriasis occurs in about one person out of 50. Psoriasis not only concerns the skin, but it can also affect the gut, joints, and muscles – for example, heart problems can occur.
The most common symptom is an itchy rash that comes and goes. It repeatedly occurs on different body parts, especially on the hands, feet, elbows, knees. The areas affected by the rash are covered with silvery scales, which may easily flake off or rub off. Psoriatic arthritis causes pain mainly in weight-bearing joints such as knee or heel bone but can also affect small joints in fingers or toes where it causes pain. Let’s know essential facts of psoriasis:
It is a chronic (meaning ongoing) autoimmune disease in which your immune system attacks healthy cells in your skin’s outer layer. The resulting inflammation and immune attack can cause red, swollen, and scaly patches to appear on the skin. It is not contagious and does not harm your internal organs.
The exact cause of psoriasis isn’t known, but it is considered an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases occur when something goes wrong with the immune system, which usually defends the body from infection. In these diseases, the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells in the body as if they were foreign invaders such as bacteria or viruses.
The most common type of psoriasis occurs as raised patches that tend to be red and scaly. The top layer of skin can build up in these patches, causing thick, sometimes yellow plaques of dead skin cells. The most common areas for this type of psoriasis are on the elbows and knees, but it may also affect the lower back, hands, toes, or feet.
When psoriasis affects the fingernails and toenails (this is called nail psoriasis), it can cause changes such as pitting or separation of the surface of the nails from the flesh under them. The nails may also become dull, thick, or extremely dry.
The main form of psoriasis is chronic plaque-type psoriasis, but there are other forms that people with psoriasis can experience. Guttate psoriasis is a version of this disease in which tiny drops develop on the skin rather than plaques. Inverse psoriasis usually appears as red patches of skin that frequently ooze and bleed.
Scalp psoriasis causes scaly, sometimes itchy areas on your scalp. Erythrodermic (erythroderma) and exfoliative (exfoliative) psoriasis are the most severe types of plaque psoriasis. These forms of psoriasis cause such rapid turnover of skin cells that it causes a person’s entire skin to shed more than twice as quickly as usual.
Guttate psoriasis starts with small water-drop-shaped sores on the skin, becoming more extensive and forming larger scaly patches. Guttate psoriasis sometimes occurs in people who have had strep throat or an upper respiratory infection before their symptoms appear. Sometimes it can be triggered by emotional stress. Inverse psoriasis appears as smooth, inflamed patches of red skin. This type of psoriasis most often occurs in skin folds and creases, such as the skin under your breasts or your arms.
Patches of red, scaly skin with a thick layer of dead cells on top (like an exfoliating body scrub) cover large parts of the body for weeks at a time. Erythrodermic psoriasis can be accompanied by fever and chills, intense itching and scaling, and more severe complications such as pneumonia. It usually develops in people who have plaque psoriasis.
Researchers have found some genes involved in psoriasis, but they still don’t know exactly why one person develops this condition, and another doesn’t. Psoriasis is not contagious or hereditary, so you cannot “catch” or “give” it to anyone else. This means that your children won’t get the disease from you if you have psoriasis.
The main symptoms of psoriasis are red patches covered by white, flaky skin, known as plaques. These may be itchy and painful. If the outer layer of your skin flakes off, these patches may bleed. Psoriasis can affect any part of your body, including:
Plaque psoriasis usually starts with a scaly area that gradually becomes thicker and develops a silvery shine. It’s common for scaling areas to appear at different times or in other places from one another. The longest you can have plaque psoriasis is about ten years from when you first start having symptoms.
Guttate psoriasis usually clears up within six weeks with no treatment, but it sometimes goes away on its own even without treatment. If you have erythrodermic psoriasis, your scaley patches can leave behind red marks that last for months after they’ve healed.
You may hear the term “inverse psoriasis” used to describe skin conditions such as intertriginous psoriasis (psoriasis in skin folds) and flexural psoriasis (psoriasis in skin creases). Don’t confuse this term with pustular psoriatic (a type of pustular psoriasis that appears like blisters bumps under your plaques).
A doctor can usually diagnose psoriasis by examining the skin. The doctor may take a skin biopsy (remove a tiny piece of leather for examination under a microscope) to rule out other problems such as infection or cancer. The doctor will also ask questions about your symptoms and any health conditions that could cause them.
There’s no cure for psoriasis, but treatments can help control symptoms and improve the appearance of affected skin. Treatment will depend on where you have psoriasis, how serious it is, and what your symptoms are like. Treatments include avoiding things that worsen your symptoms (such as too much sunlight) and using topical medicines to reduce inflammation. Taking oral medication to stop the growth of new skin cells, light therapy to slow down or stop inflammation; you can also choose homeopathic Treatment for psoriasis.
No, Psoriasis is not contagious or hereditary, so you cannot “catch” or “give” it to anyone else. This means that your children won’t get the disease from you if you have psoriasis. If they develop this condition, though, it’s most likely because they inherited genes that make them more likely to develop psoriasis.
While it can be distressing when skin becomes thickened, red, and sore, most forms of psoriasis aren’t severe. However, side effects from some treatments can be painful. These include cancers in people with long-term plaque psoriasis who take treatments that affect their immune systems, such as methotrexate or cyclosporine.
As well as treating your symptoms, there are also steps you can take that will help prevent flare-ups:
Most forms of psoriasis can be controlled with treatments, so they don’t affect your quality of life. However, it’s essential to find a treatment that works best for you. For some people, this takes several tries. Even when the condition responds well to specific therapies, plaques can return after treatments stop or if you start treating only one part of your body instead of all areas affected by psoriasis. Patients having pustular psoriasis must take precautions as it could lead to fatal complications.
There’s no cure for psoriasis, but treatments can help control symptoms and improve the appearance of affected skin. Treatment will depend on where you have psoriasis, how serious it is, and what your symptoms are like. Treatments include:
Light therapy to slow down or stop inflammation; you can also choose homeopathic Treatment for psoriasis.
Complications occur only in sporadic cases. For example, you don’t have to worry about heart issues unless you’re taking methotrexate. This is why doctors advise you not to eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice when taking this medicine. You also need to have your blood checked regularly if you’re on high doses of methotrexate because it may affect your white blood cells and platelets. And while some people can develop cancer from long-term use of ultraviolet light therapy, other factors such as smoking and the development of sunburns before starting Treatment increase your risk even more.
If you’re thinking about having a baby, let your doctor know. Women who have mild psoriasis before they become pregnant usually don’t need to worry about it affecting their pregnancies or the health of their babies. But when women experience a sudden worsening of symptoms (called a flare-up), they should wait to get pregnant because factors such as stress and abrupt changes in Treatment can make symptoms worse during pregnancy. Women with psoriatic arthritis may see improvements in their condition after giving birth because pregnancy reduces excess weight and relieves pressure on weight-bearing joints like the hips and knees.
Side effects can vary depending on which therapies you choose. For light treatment, your skin might turn pale or pink, especially if you have fair skin. Skin dryness is familiar with topical treatments, but this should go away after a few days once your body adjusts to the Treatment. Topical corticosteroids may cause thinning of the skin if used continuously for several weeks or months. You’ll also need to avoid sunlight when using topical steroids because they make your skin more sensitive to sunlight. Your doctor will advise how long you need to use them and tell you how often you should apply them. The oral medicine methotrexate has minimal risk of severe side effects if used at the correct dose, so it’s usually prescribed for younger, active psoriasis patients. You can choose homeopathic treatment over conventional Treatment to prevent all the side effects.
The correct homeopathic remedy can be used to treat many different kinds ofilments. If you are looking for the proper homeopathic Treatment for psoriasis, book an appointment through OHO Homeopathy!
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