As
a layman, we have seen all kinds of diseases. But it
is rarely that one steps into a dermatology division
of a Hospital, or medical professional in this area.
We all take the skin for granted. Every being has a
skin. And therefore, it is not immune to its own disease.
This short article focuses on one of the diseases, its
possible causes and course of treatment. This is written
by a layman, and therefore, it should be only a marginal
guide at best. The person best qualified is your doctor.
Having skin reddishness, itching, irritation, white
patches? It may be . Watch it for a while, and
if it continues, and you are uncomfortable, make an
appointment with your Medicare provider.
This disease is suddenly visible, generally in the arms,
folds of the legs, the breast area, and if there is
no itching, irritation, but just a white patch, it can
be psoriasis. The age group is generally 15 to 35, and
may be hereditary. In some cases its occurrence is slow.
It is believed that there is some factor in the human
blood system, in the white blood cells, that sends out
a signal to the skin of a possible injury, and the skin
in turn switches on its defense mechanism to the pointer
provided by that factor in the white blood cell. Thus
that area acquires a reddish look, irritation and itching
starts. The defense mechanism, as it were, appears,
to be taking a test of the skin’s reaction to an offensive attack.
It can also be because of bacterial or viral infections,
weather, allergies, injury to the skin, some drugs,
stress, lack of Vitamin D or lack of sunlight, or too
much of it, excessive intake of liquor, in cases where
the immune system has become vulnerable in cases of
HIV, AIDS, Cancer and so on.
may also be affected. The medical
and medical research community have pinpointed so far
5 forms of psoriasis: Erythrodermic, Guttate, Inverse,
Plaque, Pustular. In the first the area covered is large
and the color redness is very high, in Guttate, it manifests
itself as small pink or red spots, in when the skin
color is red in parts and appears only the armpits,
breasts, groin, it is Inverse psoriasis. Plaque type
means red patches of skin are covered by silver white
scales, while the Pustular type are white blisters surrounded
by reddish itching skin.
The symptoms are the ones given above.
Treatment is divergent and varies from case to case.
Sometimes the physician may ask for a biopsy of the
skin. If joint pains are indicated, an x-ray, and so on..
The first endeavor is to find out the underlying cause.
Sometimes, in extreme cases, when these
patches appear all over your body, hospitalization may
be indicated. This is done to prevent secondary infections,
and also contain any other underlying symptom itself.
Generally, you may be prescribed creams or ointments,
to control itching, , moisturizers, Vitamin D or Vitamin A.
etc. You may be asked to take more baths than you generally
do, with oatmeal. Antibiotics are given when you have
infections.
You may be asked to stay in sunlight for some time,
while warning you not to get sun burn.
Medicines which suppress the immune response may be
prescribed for severe psoriasis cases. The medication
in such cases varies from person to person, so no attempt
is being made to indicate what drugs are effective.
It is best left to your physician. There are a number
of new drugs that are now available to the physicians
to control psoriasis.
No preventive measures are as yet known, although there
is ongoing research. Skin care, that is keeping skin
clean, regular showers may help.
The best way, anyway, is to go to your Physician. A
lot of people have it, much more than you would believe. |
