August is Psoriasis Awareness Month

Psoriasis is a skin condition that affects approximately 3% of the world’s population and about 7.5 million adults in the United States. In order to help raise awareness about this condition and its treatments and triggers, the month of August is recognized annually as Psoriasis Awareness Month.

At St. Jude Labs, we want to help keep our readers as pain-free and healthy as possible, and this includes our readers who are impacted by psoriasis. To help raise awareness about psoriasis treatments and triggers, we’ll cover everything that you need to know about psoriasis and Psoriasis Awareness Month.

What is Psoriasis?

Though the exact cause of psoriasis is still unknown, it is thought that psoriasis is an autoimmune disorder in the same family of diseases as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. What we do know is that psoriasis is a condition where the body replaces skin cells at an abnormally rapid rate. The most common symptom of psoriasis is the presence of itchy, scaly patches that appear most frequently on the elbows, knees, trunk, and scalp.

Psoriasis symptoms often appear in cycles, with periodic disease flares. Psoriasis flares can be triggered by several factors, including cuts and burns, infections, and reactions to certain medications.

Types of Psoriasis

There are several different types of psoriasis, and psoriasis symptoms will vary from type to type. The six types of psoriasis are:

• Plaque psoriasis: The most common type of psoriasis, plaque psoriasis causes a dry, itchy, and scaly rash that appears in patches on the skin.
• Nail psoriasis: Nail psoriasis affects the fingernails and toenails, causing pitting, abnormal growth, and discoloration.
• Guttate psoriasis: Primarily affecting children and young adults and often triggered by bacterial infections such as strep throat, guttate psoriasis causes small, drop-shaped, scaling spots on the trunk, arms, or legs.
• Inverse psoriasis: Inverse psoriasis mainly affects the skin folds of the buttocks, groin, and breasts and is commonly triggered by fungal infections.
• Pustular psoriasis: Pustular psoriasis is a rare type of psoriasis that causes pus-filled blisters to form either in widespread patches or small areas on the hands and soles.
• Erythrodermic psoriasis: The rarest type of psoriasis, erythrodermic psoriasis can cover the entire body with a peeling rash that often itches or burns intensely. Erythrodermic psoriasis can be either chronic or acute.

Treatments for Psoriasis

As a chronic condition, there is no cure for psoriasis. Thankfully, though, there are numerous treatments that can help alleviate psoriasis symptoms and decrease the frequency of flare ups.

Topical medications are the most common treatment for psoriasis. Corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitors can both be used to soothe itchy skin and reduce scaly build-up, while topical medications such as anthralin are able to ease psoriasis symptoms by slowing the rate at which the body produces new skin cells.

Light therapy is another common treatment for psoriasis. Light therapy involves exposing affected areas of the skin to controlled amounts of either artificial or natural light, and the UV rays from light therapy have been shown to reduce the severity of psoriasis symptoms.

For moderate to severe cases of psoriasis, physicians may recommend either oral or injected medications as well. Cyclosporine, methotrexate, and triamcinolone are a few examples of oral/injected medications commonly prescribed to psoriasis patients.

Avoiding triggers is another way to mitigate psoriasis symptoms. Once you learn the specific triggers that cause your psoriasis symptoms to flare, avoiding these triggers will be a key part of managing your condition.

The Importance of Psoriasis Awareness Month

The primary goal of Psoriasis Awareness Month is to raise awareness about the treatments that are available for this condition and to push for an eventual cure. At St. Jude Labs, this is a cause that we feel is certainly worth promoting. Along with providing our readers with all of the information they need to live healthier lives, we at St. Jude Labs help promote better health and wellness through our industry-leading medical testing services. To schedule an appointment for health and wellness screening with St. Jude Labs, be sure to contact us today!