Psoriasis

What is psoriasis?

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that affects your skin cells. It causes the life cycles of your skin cells to speed up, which leads to their buildup on your skin’s surface as it produces more cells than it sheds. The condition is genetic but is not contagious to other people around you. 

Like other autoimmune conditions, psoriasis may not cause symptoms all the time. Instead, you get symptoms in periods called flare-ups. You can go for a long time between flare-ups, and you can even reduce the number of them you get with professional dermatological care. However, psoriasis isn’t curable. 

There are multiple types of psoriasis, with the most common being plaque psoriasis. Others are nail psoriasis, guttate psoriasis, and pustular psoriasis. 

What does psoriasis look like?

 Plaque psoriasis is characterized by raised areas (known as plaques) of abnormal skin.

These areas are red and inflamed with white or silver scales across their surfaces. These plaques tend to show up on your scalp, elbows, and knees more than in other areas.

Other psoriasis types have slightly different or additional symptoms. For example, nail psoriasis causes nail pitting and discoloration, while guttate psoriasis tends to cause many small scaling spots across the trunk and extremities. The team at Allan Mineroff, MD, PC evaluates you thoroughly and may take a skin biopsy to confirm a psoriasis diagnosis. 

How is psoriasis treated?

Fortunately, many treatments can help with psoriasis flare-ups despite the condition’s lack of a cure. With personalized care at Allan Mineroff, MD, PC, you can minimize the number of flare-ups you get and manage them when they occur. 

Your treatment options for psoriasis include:

Topical medications

You can apply certain topical medications directly to your skin to ease the symptoms of a psoriasis flare-up. The team may prescribe corticosteroids, topical retinoids, salicylic acid, vitamin D analogs, or anthralin, among other topicals. 

Systemic medications

Systemic medications come in the form of pills or injections. For moderate and severe cases, the doctors may prescribe treatment from a class of medications called Biologics. These are proteins that interrupt the immune process involved in psoriasis. These medications have been life-changing for many patients with severe disease.

Light therapy

Believe it or not, the same form of light responsible for causing sun damage to your skin is often helpful in reducing a psoriasis flare-up. Ultraviolet (UV) light therapy involves spending a moderate amount of time in the sun. 

Learn more about psoriasis and the treatments that help with flare-ups by scheduling an appointment over the phone or online at Allan Mineroff, MD, PC today.