Psoriasis is a invasive skin disease that appears on the body. It normally appears when the bodies immune system sends out faulty messages or signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. This common skin disease affects the life cycle of skin cells.
Psoriasis causes skin cells to build up quickly on the surface of your skin forming thick silvery scales and itchy, dry, red patches that can be quite painful and very irritating.
Psoriasis can be a persistent and long lasting chronic autoimmune disease. You can have times when your Psoriasis symptoms improve or periods when your psoriasis worsens.
The 5 types of Psoriasis are:
- guttate
- plaque
- pustular
- erythrodermic
- inverse
The most common form affecting most people is “plaque psoriasis”. This appears on the skin as raised red patches or lesions along with a buildup of dead skin cells, commonly referred to as “scale”. Psoriasis can appear on any part of the body and can often be associated with other health conditions, such as heart disease, depression and diabetes. Psoriasis however is not contagious.
Recent figures from the National Institute of Health state that as many as 7.4 million people in the USA have Psoriasis.
Filed under Psoriasis by on Jun 11th, 2010. Comment. 
About Psoriasis Causes
Nobody knows with absolute certainty what causes psoriasis. It is generally understood that genetics and the bodies immune system play large parts in it’s development. The majority of psoriasis researchers are in agreement that the immune system is somehow wrongly activated, which causes a number of events, most notably the large increase in skin cell growth.
Normal skin cells mature and fall off the body in approx 28 to 30 days. Skin cells in a person suffering with psoriasis take 3 to 4 days to fully mature and instead of shedding (dropping off), the skin cells build up on the exterior surface of the skin leading to psoriasis lesions forming.
Psoriasis researchers believe that at least 9 percent of the worlds population inherits 1 or more of these genes that create a pre-disposed condition to psoriasis. Despite these large numbers, only 2 percent to 3 percent of the population develops full or partial psoriasis. Psoriasis researchers understand that for a sufferer to develop psoriasis, that person must have a combination of the genes in their genetics that cause psoriasis and also be exposed to external factors known as “psoriasis triggers.”
About Psoriasis triggers
Psoriasis triggers are not the same in everyone. What can activate one person’s psoriasis, may certainly not affect another person.
Established major psoriasis triggers include:
Stress
Stress can be a major reason psoriasis flare’s up for the first time or can aggravate existing psoriasis. Relaxation, decent sleep and a good diet may help to prevent stress from impacting or making the psoriasis outbreak worse.
Injury to skin surface
Psoriasis does make an appearance in areas of the skin surface that has been recently traumatized or injured. Medical vaccination injections, skin sunburn, cuts and scratches can all lead to a psoriasis outbreak. This can be treated if caught early enough with a psoriasis cream or lotion.
Certain Medications
Some medications are associated with triggering psoriasis.
These can include: Litium, Antimalarials, Inderal, Indomethacin, Inderal, Quinidine and other pharmacy medicines.
Other psoriasis triggers can include diet, allergies, lack of sleep, the weather and also too much alcohol or recreational drugs (or other medications as discussed above).
Filed under Psoriasis by on Jun 13th, 2010. Comment.
