Psoriasis: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Psoriasis is a skin disease, which is non-contagious, and one has strong genetic reasons to get it. It forms a silvery, red tinted rash on the skin, which appears as inflamed swollen. This silvery skin scale is actually a build up of dead cells.

Psoriasis causes stiffness in the body, pain and joint damage. This rash is mostly appears on the surface of elbow, knees, buttock crease and the scalp. Where psoriasis in any of these part gives you pain and swelling, it causes major hair loss when affects the scalp. In appears in the changes in the fingernails. They get dimples and pits on them when affected by psoriasis.

Though this problem is not permanent and has much treatment available which include some oral medicines and some solutions to be applied on the effected area. This problem keeps coming back on the skin every now and then and doesn't disappear for a long time. Doctors believe that it has a strong link with stress. If one is highly facing stress in life the chances of getting affected with psoriasis are high plus it takes time also in healing.

So one keep a check on the stress level if already suffering from this disease.

Treatment requires some medical solutions, which have some specific chemicals in them especially, meant for psoriasis. Then ultraviolet lights have been used to cure it and along with them some special medications have to be given to make the ultraviolet therapy more effective.

Treatment for psoriasis-there is no permanent cure for this problem but medical science has developed to an extent to have the best cures for most of the disease so psoriasis is not an exception. There are numerous ways of treating psoriasis, which can control this problem to high extent.

1. Topical medication-this is the first step to treat psoriasis with help of ointments, creams, solutions, lotions and sprays. Among them the most common prescription is cortisone, which is the very common medicine to be applied on psoriasis. Some other medicines are Dovonex, antralin and tazorac.
   
   
   Many of these medicines are available in different amount of content which have different strength as very mild to very strong which have to be applied depending on the severity of the problem. If the disease is very minor doctor can prescribe the same medicine with a mild strength and a very strong one if the problem is complicated or very severe. Most of the medicines of psoriasis are available without a medical prescription to a chemist but it's always better to consult a doctor before starting applying any of them. Most of these medicines do have their side affects, which may give the skin some sensation, or irritation and some medications such as steroids are less effective if used for a longer period. A dermatologist recommends topical treatment for psoriases when almost 10 to 20 percent skin is affected by psoriasis.
   
2. Systemic medication-some oral medications such as neroal or sandimmune are prescribed to cure psoriasis, which never respond to other treatments. While systemic treatment works very well as it affects the entire body system so the healing is faster. But even this medication has its own side effects. When you are on such drugs you need to be strictly observed by your doctor. Your dermatologist will help you to understand the treatment ion a better way and will explain you the side effects of the treatment. You should not play with your body by using and applying anything on your skin without a doctor's consideration and knowledge.
   
3. Phototherapy-phototherpy is a very reliable way to treat psoriasis. In small doses sunlight helps in reducing the symptoms of psoriasis. Medical world has developed artificial ways of doing this ultraviolet treatment with the help of artificial beams of lights. The most common ultraviolet treatment is called UVB which is done by using ultraviolet B light. Some other ultraviolet treatments are combined with exposure of light beams and some other medication that increases the skin's sensitivity towards light. Though this treatment helps a lot in treating complicated psoriasis but it put you on higher chances of skin cancer. This phototherapy treatment needs many sittings with the doctor to cure the disease. It cannot be done in just one sitting.
   
4. Biologic treatments-this is the latest treatment to tackle psoriasis, which specifically targets the immune system, which causes the psoriasis. This latest treatment has fewer side effects than the older and traditional methods of treating psoriasis. These treatments are very effective where most of the other treatments are failed.
   
5. Care At Home-there is nothing to prevent you from getting psoriasis but certain precautions can reduce the chance of getting it or from getting it worse. Keep your body moist and hydrate by applying moisturizers and drinking sufficient water. As dryness and dry weather can make it worse. Don't peel the skin where you have any cut, bruises or wounds. Let them heal with time and medication. Keep your stress level under control.