It is a chronic skin condition, which is caused by autoimmune dysfunction. In this condition, your skin might get bumpy, patchy red, and crusty.

In this condition, your cells multiply many times faster than normal. It can grow anywhere on the body but most of the time, it grows on elbow, back, knees, and scalp get affected. It cannot be passed from one person to another, but it can be passed within your family members. It is usually occurred due to over efficiency of immune system. Normally, the skin cells of a person shed approximately in a month but in case of Psoriasis, they shed in 4 to 5 days and pile up on the surface.

Types of Psoriasis:

There are four to five types of Psoriasis from which people may suffer given below:

  • Plaque psoriasis: It is the most common type of psoriasis. Around 80 to 90 percent people suffer from this type of psoriasis. If a person has this type of psoriasis, his skin will be flame red and covered in silver like scales called plaque. These can be found on knees, elbows, back or scalps.
  • Guttate psoriasis: It is the most common type among children. It causes small pink spots on the skin. Usually, spots are not that thick and crusty. It is caused by bacterial infection. There can be many causes of guttate psoriasis like tonsils, stress or skin injury.
  • Pustular psoriasis: It is the rare form of psoriasis which often found in adults. It consists of lesions1 filled with pus. It can be seen in the form of wide spread patches. It is usually occurring on feet, hands or other body parts. It is not contagious and infection as the other types. It has a cycling effect, after sometime it turns into harsh red skin with scales.
  • Erythrodermic psoriasis: It is the inflammatory type of psoriasis. It is the rare form of psoriasis, which can spready on whole body. People who have unstable plaque type may suffer from it later. People may suffer skin peeling condition but in most cases it never happens. Swelling from fluid secretion can also be experienced. In some cases, it affects your ankles. Temperature regulation from the body may occur that can lead you to the shivering state.
  • Inverse psoriasis: It usually develops in groins, armpits and under the breast. It occurs mostly where the skin folds such as buttocks and around genitals. In this condition, red lesions can be expected. It is usually occurring without skin scaling. It is most common in overweight people due to deep skin folds. Fungal infection is the triggering point of this type of psoriasis.

Symptoms of Psoriasis:

Its symptoms may vary from one person to another. Some of the common symptoms are given below:

  • Usually, you can see red and thick patches on your skin. It can turn into white silvery scales later on.
  • Cracked skin which may lead you to the bleeding phase.
  • Soreness of skin around the patches can be seen.
  • Burning and itching effect can be felt.
  • It affects your nails as well.
  • Joint problems may arise during this condition.
  • People with psoriasis complains about arthritis2.

It is not necessary that every person may experience all of these symptoms. Some people might have an entirely different experience of psoriasis. Many people may face a cycle of all the symptoms over the period. It depends on the current condition of your symptoms; they might be severe or then they go mild. Sometimes, they can go completely disappeared. In remission period you may not experience any sign or symptoms of psoriasis, but it does not mean that it will not come back.

Causes of Psoriasis:

It is unclear at this stage that what are the actual causes of psoriasis. It is also called autoimmune disease by many scientists. It affects your immune system and fight with the infectious cells. When it targets the wrong cells, they trigger the conditions of psoriasis. An inflammatory chemical is then produced which spreads in your body.

In this activity, excessive growth of cells piles up on your skin. The triggers that cause psoriasis may vary from person to person but some of them are given below:

  • Stress
  • Anxiety
  • Skin injuries
  • Infections
  • Hormonal imbalance

It has been studied that sometimes, certain medicines can cause psoriasis-like the use of lithium, quinidine, indomethacin, etc. other causes may be diet issues, weather conditions, certain types of allergies but there is no solid evidence that proves these.

Risk factors:

Some of the risk factors may include:

  • It is not solid but anyone can develop psoriasis.
  • This condition can run into families. If your parents had this condition, there are chances later you might suffer from this.
  • Stress is the enemy of immune system. There are high chances that in stressful conditions it can be triggered in your immune system.
  • It can be said that smoking tobacco promotes the chances of having psoriasis. It causes the initial development of psoriasis.
  • It is equally common in both females and males.
  • Despite all the research conducted over the period is failed because the actual causes of psoriasis are still unknown.
  • People who consume high amount of alcohol, may suffer severe symptoms and their treatment can be less effective.

Diagnosis:

There are multiple diagnoses of psoriasis available, but we will talk about two of the main below:

  • Physical examination: Most of the time, doctor can tell that you have symptoms of psoriasis by physically examining you. It is because anyone can see with naked eye on your skin. They are evident clearly on your skin and can be distinguished from other conditions. It necessary for you to show whole body to your doctor. You have to openly talk about the fact that your other family member is or may have suffered from it.
  • Biopsy: it is usually done when the symptoms are unclear to the doctors. In order to apply this test, doctors took a sample of your skin from the affected part on your body and then send it to the lab for examination.

 

1  https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9695

2  https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/arthritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20350772