Psoriasis occurs when your immune system is too weak. It is a disease of the skin that is unfortunately chronic. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease where the skin cells multiply at an uncontrollable rate. It results in scaling and flaky skin. The disease has no cure and will occur multiple times during one’s lifetime. It mostly starts as a person enters adulthood. The scaly and flaky skin usually occurs on the knees, scalp, and elbows. The scaling could be limited to a few patches or can cover the entire body.
Causes of psoriasis
There is no particular reason for the occurrence of psoriasis. Some common causes of psoriasis include genetic disposition and environmental factors. If psoriasis runs in your family, then there are high chances that you will also develop this disease. A compromised immune system is also one of the major causes of psoriasis.
Gene theory
One-third of the people who have psoriasis have a relative who has the same disease. However only 2-3% of the people who have a gene which causes psoriasis report of suffering from the disease. Over 10% of the American population carries one or more of these genes.
Environmental factors
While the gene for psoriasis may be present in many, only a few suffer from this disease. Environmental factors play a large role in triggering these genes, which makes the disease ‘active.’
Some of the triggers that are also causes of psoriasis include the following:
Immune system
In psoriasis, your body’s defense system mistakenly identifies the healthy cells as infections and begins to attack them. The disease causes an excessive growth of skin cells. These cells get pushed up to the surface which is what you see as scaly, flaky skin. Since your skin cannot shed all the excess skin at a rate that it needs to, the cells build up on the surface. Due to the infection, the immune system is on an overdrive which causes inflammation.
Treatment of psoriasis
There is no cure for psoriasis or any way to avoid the causes of psoriasis. The best you can do is to treat the appearance of your skin. These are the different types of treatments for psoriasis.
Consult with your doctor and a dermatologist for a comprehensive treatment of psoriasis. There are many alternative medications you can consider such as fish oil, aloe vera, and Oregon grape.
Top
Articles