What is Psoriasis?
Psoriasis is an auto-immune disease – meaning that it is a condition that makes the body’s own immune system to attack you, due to faulty systems. In the case of Psoriasis, the faulty signals lead to the sudden overgrowth of skin cells. As most auto-immune diseases, Psoriasis is not contagious.
Psoriasis splits in five types. Plaque is the most common psoriasis type – it creates white and red hues that create scaly patches on the skin. The plaques usually appear on the elbow skin or knee skin, but can appear on just about any point on the body.
Despite the mainly dermatological focus of the disease, there are patients who do not show anything on their skin pointing to psoriasis. It occasionally affects fingernails and toenails (the symptom is called psoriatic nail dystrophy).
10% to 40% of the psoriasis patients end up developing psoriatic arthritis which is an inflammation of the joints, a disease very similar in its symptoms to rheumatoid arthritis.
Psoriatic arthritis
Appearing as a complication for Psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis is a kind of inflammatory arthritis. It most commonly occurs in patients with HLA-B27 tissue type, being a seronegative spondyloarthropaty. As a disease, psoriatic arthritis manifests itself very similarly to rheumatoid arthritis and, therefore, has a very similar treatment.
There are known cases for the disease at just about any age, but the common starting point is usually ten years after the development of Psoriasis. It can occasionally affect children, although most patients are between 30 and 50 years old. Both genders have an equal chance of developing the illness. Associations have been made with genetic factors that could encourage the disease, but its general causes have not yet been discovered. In about 14% of the cases, the psoriatic arthritis manifests symptoms before Psoriasis occurs.
Psoriatic arthritis has five recognized types:
- Asymmetric – The most common type of psoriatic arthritis, affecting about 70% of the patients. It does not appear on symmetric areas of the body and it usually affects less than three joints. It is the mildest form of the disease.
- Symmetric – Appearing in about 25% of the cases, symmetric psoriatic arthritis affects the joints on both sides of the body at the same time. 50% of the patients suffering from this are disabled by the disease. This is the disease’s manifestation that is most similar to rheumatoid arthritis.
- Distal interphalangeal predominant – Occuring to about 5% of the patients, it manifests itself through stiffness and inflammation in the joints that are close to the ends of fingers and toes. Often nail changes appear.
- Arthritis mutilans – An extremely severe form of the disease, which affects about 5% of the psoriatic arthritis patients. It is occasionally called chronic absorptive arthritis and causes severe damage to the joints.
- Spondylitis – It causes stiffness and discomfort in the neck and spine, but it occasionally affects feet and hands.
Connection between Psoriasis and inflammation
Psoriasis in itself can easily be linked to inflammation – since it manifests itself through inflamed skin in both its forms (Psoriasis vulgaris and Psoriatic erythroderma). In 10% to 40% of the cases it also causes inflammation of the joints by developing into Psoriatic arthritis.
Both Psoriasis and the Psoriatic arthritis are diseases that – in their most common forms – are not fatal. However, both of them can be very uncomfortable, even in the mildest of cases. On top of aesthetic consequences (in the case of Psoriasis, patients’ skin is covered with plaques, lesions, while their nails occasionally are discolored, pitted or sometimes even crumbled – to the point that it was occasionally described as a leprosy type), the inflammation causes constant pain and itching while patients perform the most basic of functions. Things that ordinary people perform with ease and with minor effort can become difficult for Psoriasis and Psoriatic arthritis sufferers.
Available treatments
Neither Psoriasis nor Psoriatic arthritis can be definitely cured, however their symptoms can be managed through a variety of treatments:
- Since both diseases have been known to be aggravated by psychological circumstances, therapy is advised for the patients.
- For Psoriasis, sunlight in the form of phototherapy has been known to lead to improvements.
- Anti-inflammatory treatments like ibuprofen improve the life condition of Psoriatic arthritis patients.
- For severe cases of Psoriasis, medication like methotrexate, cyclosporine and retinoids is usually prescribed.
Alternative treatment methods include vegetarian diets or diets based on fish oil. Anti-oxidant drinks like Nopalea also seem to improve the health status.
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