Understanding Your Psoriasis
The skin disease psoriasis is not contagious but it is a genetic disease that affects the skin and or the joints of the person who has it. There are several types of psoriasis. Approximately 7.5 million Americans have psoriasis.
Most cases of psoriasis are mild but it can be severe in manifestation.
All forms of psoriasis are not contagious. All psoriasis involves reddened skin. Some forms have pustules and some involve skin scaling.
The psoriatic skin cells behave differently from normal skin cells in that they grow much more rapidly and instead of falling off the skin in 30 days, they come to the surface in approximately 3 to 4 days and stay on the surface of the skin where they gather and form the lesion which is characteristic of psoriasis.
Psoriasis is diagnosed by examination by a qualified doctor. Occasionally the doctor may take a skin biopsy to be sure of the diagnosis.
There is no cure for psoriasis, it is a lifetime disease.
Psoriasis is treatable by topical or systemic medications. It usually takes a few trials before the individual can find a treatment plan that works for them.
There are different 4 forms of psoriasis: erythrodermic, inverse, guttate and pustular. An individual can have one form or more than one at a time. They all have different characteristics with reddened skin being common to all four forms. The intensity can vary from mild to moderate for all of them. Without treatment psoriasis no matter which form you have can become severe, even life threatening.
The most common body parts for psoriasis to appear on are the knees, elbows, chest and scalp. You can have psoriasis on your entire body or just one patch. You can have just a few pustules or lots.
Psoriasis typically appears around age 15 and can appear anytime in your teens and through approximately age 35. It is a lifetime skin condition that will not entirely go away but will have spurts of being mild, moderate, clearing up as well as the possibility of becoming severe if left untreated.
This skin disease can strike females or males, and any skin type or color. Psoriasis does not care how much money you make or what your social or political standing is....this is all about skin and if you have it you can be susceptible to psoriasis.
Scientists suspect that psoriasis has heredity factors involved that determine who is at risk for developing psoriasis.
Psoriasis can be triggered to appear in response to environmental factors as well as in response to the emotions of the individual.
There is a specific type of psoriasis that is called "psoriatic arthritis that affects approximately 23% of those who have psoriasis according to the Psoriasis Foundation's 2001 Benchmark Survey. It is milder than rheumatoid arthritis but otherwise basically similar in nature. The joints and soft tissue can become inflamed, painful and stiff. The body parts affected usually is the ankles knees, neck, and lower back.
When there is an understanding by the individual who has the disease and by those who love the person who has the disease living with psoriasis becomes more manageable.