Psoriasis (Ps) is an immune mediated skin disease where the cause of the disease is unclear. It is chronic skin inflammatory disease where there are raised plaques and scales with intense itching.
Normally, a skin cell grows and comes to the surface in a month’s time where old one sheds and the new one takes its place. In cases of psoriasis, overactive immune system hastens the production of cells, e.g. instead of 30 days it takes 3 days for production of cells. Instead of shedding the old skin cells, cells just pile up on the surface of the skin. This piled up cells form scales and plaque on the red skin as a base which is inflamed. Due to psoriasis, some people get burning, stinging pain and the desire to scratch to get rid of the scales.
What is the cause of psoriasis?
There is no single cause which can be identified. Definitely it is an immune mediated disease. Many a times genetics plays a role. So, if blood relatives have psoriasis or there is a Family History of psoriasis, which can be elicited when we take details of the patient, we can observe the linkage.
Psoriasis gets precipitated or aggravated under stressful situations. These stressful situations can be physiological states like puberty, pregnancy, menopause etc or it can be psychological stress due to some event or circumstances in the life of the person. Psoriasis is considered as psychosomatic disease i.e., psychological stress expressed on soma- skin. It is not infectious disease and not contagious disease (spreading through contact or touch).
What are types of psoriasis?
According to the location on which it is expressed it is named as
- Genital Ps
- Scalp Ps
- Facial
- Hands, Feet and nails- Palmoplantar Psoriasis – PPP
- Ps in skin folds
Apart from above, it can occur in any other parts of body as well. It is very common to see multiple locations getting affected by Ps.
According to the appearance of lesions, it is named in 5 types.
- Guttate Ps- Spotty appearance, red inflamed itchy spots -8%
- Pustular Ps- Pustules predominantly- 3%
- Plaques Ps- Very common scaly- 80%
- Inverse Ps- More in folds, shiny inflamed dark red skin- 25% along with other variety
- Erythrodermic Ps- extensive peeling of skin all-over the body- emergency to manage -acute flare up- intense red peeling in sheets- 2%
Signs and symptoms
- Inflammation of skin – redness, raised plaques and scales on the skin.
- Intense itching to shed the scales.
- After falling off scales inflamed raw skin beneath gets exposed and it causes burning and stinging pain.
- One in three people having psoriasis may get psoriatic arthritis -inflammation of joints.
Diagnosis
Psoriasis can be diagnosed by appearance of the lesion and typical symptoms with which patient comes. Occasionally, biopsy is done to confirm the diagnosis.
Treatment
Modern medicine treats or rather controls psoriasis by topical ointments having steroids in it. If it is severe than oral steroids are added. Now a days immune-suppressant drugs are prescribed liberally to produce quick results which clears the skin to some extent and reduces itching. So, the patient gets immediate relief. However, steroids and immune suppressants have a lot of side effects which one should be clear about before consuming them.
When Psoriasis is managed in this way, it creates a lot of disturbance in the body as the body’s biological intelligence is not allowed to express the disease at the skin level. Due to use of suppressants which block the expression of the disease at the skin level, it gets channelised or it chooses another deeper more vital organ (according to genetic propensity of the person) to express its disturbance and the person suffers from more deeper and intense issues. In simple terms, suppression of skin disease is followed by many more severe illnesses, e.g. arthritis, lung fibrosis, diabetes, cancer and many more.
Homoeopathic Management of Psoriasis
Principles and practice of Homoeopathy prescribe that suppression of any skin ailment can lead to severe illnesses affecting lungs, kidney, pancreas, body joints and such other vital organs.
Psoriasis is immune mediated, genetic, psychosomatic disease which is expressed by the body via the skin. For treating psychosomatic disease, we understand the mind of the person in detail with his reactive pattern in various situations of his life. We take note of family and past history as well. Along with this, physical data (appetite, sleep, cold/ heat bearing capacity etc) is taken. After analysing all the information collected, we finalise the remedy for the person based on homeopathic principles. As is always the case, for each person the medicine could be different.
Regular follow ups are taken to make the necessary changes in doses as the treatment progresses.
We make the person conscious about psychosomatic connection and make him observant about his attitude towards life and various circumstances. This helps the person to make necessary changes in his psyche too. Life style changes are also important in some cases.
Topical applications having steroids are prohibited in most of the cases. Sometimes in severe cases especially in children gradual withdrawal of these topical ointments is advised. Any non-medicated moisturiser or moisturiser with aloe vera or oats can be used to deal with dryness as dryness causes itching. Virgin coconut oil is the best moisturiser.