What triggers psoriasis Why not wait to see a doctor?
Psoriasis affects approximately 80 million people worldwide. It is a chronic, recurrent, inflammatory disease of the body. It visibly affects the skin, but also the nails or joints.
It is not infectious or contagious, but definitely do not wait to see a specialist at the first signs. If left untreated, severe psoriasis can also affect the function of other internal organs due to increased levels of inflammatory factors. Although psoriasis cannot yet be cured completely, modern dermatology has a wide range of effective therapies that can alleviate the symptoms of psoriasis and keep them under control for a relatively long period of time. It should also not be underestimated that this chronic disease does not only negatively affect physical health, but also the psychological state of the patient. Since the manifestations themselves, as well as the prejudices of the environment, limit their private and professional life, they not infrequently suffer from depression.
It is an autoimmune disease, which means that the immune system attacks the body's own cells. Genetic predisposition plays a big role. A positive family history is confirmed in almost 30% cases. It can manifest itself at any age. Most often between 15 and 35 years of age. The initial triggering factor tends to be high stress or trauma, but also the use of certain medications (ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, antimalarials, lithium, non-steroidal antiphlogistic drugs,...).
What are the manifestations of psoriasis?
Immune system dysfunction due to inflammation accelerates skin cell reproduction from the normal 28 days to 3 to 6 days. They do not have enough time to mature and their subsequent accumulation results in local inflammatory thickened foci with scaling of the skin in the form of scales. The psoriasis foci may be small in the size of drops to coins, but multiple.
Chronic stationary to map-like in typical locations over the joints of the limbs (elbows, knees), on the abdomen and in the sacral region of the back, but also confluent with progression to severe involvement of the entire skin surface. They may occur only in the hairy part of the head, where red, hard, scaly deposits form. The hair does not fall out. Some patients have psoriatic lesions in the skin folds such as the groin, armpits, under the breasts, genital area, but also around the eyes. Here the lesions are red, with inflammation, often without scales on the surface. Psoriatic deposits on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet are often associated with involvement and typical deformities of the nails.
A special severe acute form of psoriasis are scattered confluent foci, which are characterized by numerous white-yellow sterile pustules in addition to redness. Impetigo herpetiformis is a generalized pustular psoriasis arising in the second half of pregnancy with severe general symptoms.
The diagnosis is definitely confirmed by histological examination of the skin sample.