Items Tagged With Psoriasis Treatment

Skin care at home can help control psoriasis. Skin care and treatment may include using creams or lotions, pills, baths or soaks, and ultraviolet (UV) light. Skin care for psoriasis includes the following:

• Take care of your skin, and keep it moist and lubricated.
• Gently soften and remove psoriasis crusts by putting cream on the crusts and then peeling the loose crusts off. Removing crusts may help creams and lotions to be absorbed in the skin. However, this should be done very carefully so that the skin is not irritated.
• Follow instructions for skin products and prescribed medications. It may take a period of trial and error until you know which skin products or procedures work best for you. For mild symptoms of psoriasis, various nonprescription medications, such as aloe vera, may be soothing.
• Follow your schedule for sunlight or ultraviolet light treatments.
• Seek information or counseling from your doctor. Psoriasis day care centers may be available in limited locations. To find a center near you, ask your doctor or contact the National Psoriasis Foundation at http://www.psoriasis.org.

For more information on caring for your skin, see:

Skin care for psoriasis.

Other helpful suggestions to control psoriasis include:

• Protecting your skin. Treat all infections promptly, and try to avoid skin injuries and irritation.
• Taking care of your scalp. When you have psoriasis on your scalp, treat your scalp, not your hair.
• Trimming your nails. Keeping your nails trimmed may prevent the spread or flare-ups of psoriasis.
• Being careful in the sun. Although short periods of sun exposure reduce psoriasis in most people, too much sun exposure can damage the skin and cause skin cancer. In addition, sunburns can trigger flares of psoriasis.
• Being aware of possible medication reactions. Certain medications can trigger psoriasis or make symptoms worse.

Studies have not found any "psoriasis diet" that can cure or improve the condition, despite claims over the years. Try to eat a balanced, low-fat diet and maintain a healthy weight.

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Currently there is no cure for psoriasis. However, many types of treatment are available, including products applied to the skin, phototherapy, and oral medications, that can keep psoriasis under control. Most cases are mild and can be treated with skin products. In some cases, psoriasis can be hard to treat if it is severe and widespread. Most psoriasis returns, even mild forms.

The purpose of treatment is to slow the rapid growth of skin cells that causes psoriasis and to reduce inflammation. Treatment is based on the type of psoriasis you have, its location, its severity, and your age and overall health. It also depends on how much you are affected by the condition, either physically (because of factors such as joint pain) or emotionally (because of embarrassment or frustration from a skin rash that may cover a large or visible area of the body).

Initial treatment

Treatment for mild psoriasis, characterized by a few isolated raised patches, begins with skin care, which includes keeping your skin moist and lubricated. Basic treatment approaches often involve combinations of therapies and products that can usually be purchased without a prescription, including:

• Creams, ointments, and lotions, to lubricate the skin.
• Shampoos, oils, and sprays, to treat psoriasis of the scalp.
• Ointments, to treat psoriasis of the nails.
• Some exposure to sunlight.

It is also important to eliminate factors that can trigger a flare-up of psoriasis or make the condition worse. Stress, skin injury, infection, and use of alcohol can all contribute to symptom flare-ups. Streptococcal infections, which usually affect the upper respiratory tract, are associated with guttate psoriasis.

Effective treatment will address the impact the condition has on overall well-being as well as the physical symptoms.

Ongoing treatment

Creams and ointments may be used in combination with sunlight or ultraviolet light (phototherapy) for moderate psoriasis that affects less than 20% of the skin surface (about equal to having both arms completely covered). However, creams, ointments, lotions, and topical (applied to the skin) medications work better for some people than for others. If one topical treatment does not clear up your psoriasis, your doctor will likely recommend that you try different combinations of treatments.

If you use phototherapy (brief exposures to ultraviolet light such as ultraviolet light B, also known as UVB), follow your doctor's instructions carefully to avoid serious skin damage.

• Exposure to UVB light can often improve psoriasis. UVB treatment, commonly done 3 times per week, combined with topical therapy, such as tar or calcipotriene, is well tolerated and has been shown to be effective.^{5, 6}
• Psoralen and UVA light therapy (PUVA) combines medication and treatment with ultraviolet A light. A photosensitizer such as methoxsalen is taken, either orally or by soaking in a tub containing the medication, before exposure to UVA in a walk-in chamber. Treatments are generally done 2 or 3 times per week, with clearing of symptoms occurring in most people after 19 to 25 treatments.⁷

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