Tuesday, November 20, 2012

What is Psoriasis

By Andrew Lee


Psoriasis is a kind of non-contagious inflammatory skin condition that is known to produce skin aggravation and redness. It results in thick, red, dry skin plaques or scales which can be flaky with a distinctive silver-white color.

Signs and Symptoms

Psoriasis may be extremely minor or tremendously severe. The mild cases may be so slight that individuals who are affected will not even realize that they currently have psoriasis. In the minor instances, the dry patches tend to be minimal and faint. The intense conditions are impossible to miss. Those with extreme cases may have their bodies completely covered with dense, inflamed scales. Quite often, psoriasis affects the skin of the knees, head and elbows, but it might affect additional places as well.

Actually there are 5 varieties of Psoriasis: 1) Erythrodermic--severely red and covers a substantial area 2) Guttate--little, pink dots on the skin 3) Inverse--inflammation and discomfort where skin overlaps 4) Plaque--most frequent variety 5) Pustular--white blisters and red, aggravated skin.

Most individuals regard psoriasis is a long-term skin condition. It tends to go in cycles. Could actually improve for some time then worsen. Frequently psoriasis will apparently spontaneously resolve for months or even years only to return at a later date.

Psoriasis may be seen in all people across the globe. Men, women and all races can be affected. Individuals of all age groups may be impacted although it is often first identified in the young adult population (ages 15-35).

Psoriasis can certainly cause mental and emotional anxiety for individuals who have serious cases as a result of social embarrassment and deep concern over their visual appearance.

What Causes Psoriasis

There's no unanimous agreement about the actual cause of psoriasis. It's believed that the body's immune system plays a major role in psoriasis. Some individuals suppose that the dry, scaly skin is triggered by abnormal lymphocytes in the blood stream. The lymphocytes trigger the skin cells to multiply rapidly. Skin cells are produced deep within the skin and ordinarily take about 4 weeks to rise to the surface, but with psoriasis, the skin cells go up to rapidly (in about two weeks) and a large number of dead skin cells collect on the surface of the skin.

It's also suspected that there is a genetic factor included in psoriasis, and that a predisposition for psoriasis could be passed down from parents to children. Psoriasis is many times identified in members of the same family


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