Psoriasis

by Richard Haigh

Psoriasis is typically featured as patchy, raised, red areas of skin inflammation with scaling, psoriasis often affects the tips of the elbows and knees, the scalp, navel, and around the anus and genital areas.

Quite of few of people with psoriasis, also develop an associated inflammation of their joints which often is diagnosed as having psoriatic arthritis. And about 1 in 10 people with psoriasis will also develop inflammation of joints.

Psoriatic arthritis belongs to a group of arthritis conditions that may cause inflammation of the spine. The cause of psoriatic arthritis is currently unknown, but a combination of genetic and immune factors as well as environmental factors, are likely involved.

Psoriatic arthritis can often occur in men and women that are over the age of fifty,it also affects both sexes equally. Psoriasis and arthritis will often appear at different times as the arthritis may precede the psoriasis in the most of patients. Some patients may have had arthritis for over twenty years before psoriasis develops.

Patients with psoriatic arthritis may also develop inflammation of tendons, cartilage, eyes, lining of the lungs, and occasionally the aorta. Psoriatic arthritic may also mimic the pattern seen with rheumatoid arthritis.

Treatments available to help control psoriasis,and the good news is that their are lots of them Some can be found at the local store while others you will need to go to the docktor to get a prescription.Because they are so many treatment, it may take time to find the right one for you.

Topical corticosteroids are the most commonly prescribed treatments for psoriasis. They are synthetic drugs which resemble naturally occurring hormones in the body and are available in varying strengths and formulations including lotions, creams, solutions, sprays, gels, and ointments.

The way that corticosteroids act is by slowing down skin cells growth and then decreasing the inflammation patients with psoriasis, lesions. It must be noted that corticosteroids may quickly clear lesions, they do not produce long term remissions so it must be said that lesions associated with psoriasis may come back within a short time. Some side effects include stretch marks or scars on the skin.

Topical therapies have remained the mainstay of treatment for many patients suffering with mild psoriasis. Topical treatments work relatively quickly at clearing lesions and are typically well tolerated by the majority of psoriasis sufferers.

However, topical treatments must be used repeatedly to remain effective and are often not able to maintain remission of an outbreak. Dithranol is a topical therapy which has been used often to treat psoriasis. It can be effective for mild to moderate psoriasis and is often used with ultraviolet treatments for patients with more severe psoriasis.

There are one or two problems with Dithranol the main one being that it will burn and irritate the skin and will stain any thing that it comes into contact with

As more people have been active partners in their treatment of psoriasis, interest in alternative medicine has grown by leaps and bounds. While complementary and alternative treatments are becoming more common, it is important to note that to date they have not been tested and studied to the same extent as conventional medical treatments.

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