Hello everyone today I'm sharing about psoriasis, causes of psoriasis and treatment of psoriasis.
What is psoriasis?
Psoriasis is systemic inflammatory condition which mostly affects skin but not exclusively also it can affect nails it can affect joints and there is a link of metabolic syndrome in patients suffering from psoriasis. I'm just saying a bit more about metabolic syndrome that's a constellation of conditions which mostly includes diabetes high blood pressure, obesity, increased lipids and cholesterol in patients blood that pose a link to them for develop later on cardiovascular diseases so breaking down psoriasis and skin.
The classical form of psoriasis presents as the red mostly well-demarcated patches and plaques which are scaly and the most common sides which are affected are scalp, elbows, knees and lower back.
Psoriasis mostly starts in majority of patients in 20s and 30s or 50s and 60s years old patients but of course it can start as early as in childhood and later in adulthood.
What causes psoriasis?
Psoriasis is caused by genes so a person needs to be genetically predisposed there have been so far nine identified genes. all of those genes have different penetrance and expressivity which means in late terms genes can express themselves either early in childhood or later in adulthood and they can cause mild or severe disease that means that if the person is carrier of the gene does not necessarily get psoriasis or it gets it later on in a life and it may be very mild or opposite it may start early in a shocking childhood and it may become already severe from the beginning.
Trigger Factors of psoriasis:
Now the next topic would be the trigger factors so on one hand we are talking about being predisposed for psoriasis and being heavier of the gene but that's only one condition to gut disease later on the second condition are triggering factors and among those we know that psoriasis may be triggered by infections, medications, obesity, alcohol intake, smoking, trauma and others.
So when doctors are dealing with patient psoriasis they try to address those triggering factors and see if there is anyone if there is any trigger factor playing a role in recent flare of psoriasis as i already explained classical form presents with red scaly and well defined plaques but also psoriasis can look like very discreet patches sometimes patients develop pastures on hands and feet or widespread on entire skin.
Psoriasis can also affect sporal cavities specifically the tongue is affected it may affect nails which become yellowy discolored they can develop fittings on its surface and they are crumbly and also it can affect joints most commonly affected joints are finger joints and toe joints although bigger joints may be affected as well so elbows, knees and so on.
There is also important to know that psoriasis can appear on damaged skin and as the damaged skin i mean burns, sunburns, places of tattoo at the areas of piercing scars and so on we would call this phenomenon corner phenomenon so in many cases patients who may have psoriasis for a long time which has been in remission so the skin is in good condition they come back to the clinic and saying i've recently been burned and i've got psoriatic patch on the side of the burn.
Is stress a factor having psoriasis flare ups?
Stress is one of the the most common trigger factors for psoriasis people who are suffering for psoriasis are very commonly stigmatized they avoid social contacts this affects their mood which just perpetuates vicious circle so addressing those track factors is important part of consultation.
How psoriasis is treated?
Doctors have different options to offer to patients most commonly they will start with topical preparations which are combined with topical steroids and then salicylic acid cold are iron arthritine and derivatives of vitamin D and vitamin A.
The next treatment options is systemic options so we would offer patients tablets which can be initiated in hospital settings for the purpose of monitoring of patients blood.
They also use UV rays for treatment of psoriasis and we would use UVA or UVB which are specifically targeted for psoriatic patients so patients don't cause a lot of damage but they cause more of the benefits.
Then last but not least biologic treatments is a big group of drugs which has been recently developed and they're immunomodulating agents which means they interfere with a mechanism of psoriasis and therefore the outcome of the treatment is very good.
How can patients manage their symptoms?
Importantly to know is to address triggering factors so reduce the stress working on stress relief methods for example yoga or meditation, cut the smoking and drinking, maintain proper weight, eat balanced diet with a lot of omega-3 fat and also use moisturizers and among them moisturizing ointments preferably over moisturizing creams. so psoriasis as presents with red scaly and thick patches means that the barrier function of the skin is decreased that means that patients are losing proteins with a declination of the patches and plaques and also they're losing water because plaques are inflamed that means if they put the layer of the ointment on the surface of the skin they replenish this barrier function which can actually help with psoriasis in general.
Don't forget to share this psoriasis information to your friends and families.
Thank you
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