Plaque Psoriasis
What Is Plaque Psoriasis?
Plaque psoriasis is without doubt the most common form of psoriasis, and the one type that many psoriasis sufferers seek an effective natural treatment for. Plaque psoriasis affects millions of people all around the world, regardless if they are men, women or children, young or old.
Article of interest:
I’ve seen patients suffering with plaque psoriasis for almost 30 years since I started treating patients with natural medicine. Did you know that plaque psoriasis is found more in women at an earlier age than men?
Plaque psoriasis is often treated by medical doctors with different kinds of pharmaceutical medicines including creams, ointments and drugs but is generally far from successful, in fact, it is only treating the symptoms and many people with plaque psoriasis end up giving up on these kinds of conventional treatments, preferring to look for natural and drug-free ways of treating their skin problems. Other common medical treatments for chronic plaque psoriasis include phototherapy or systemic agents (strong drug treatments), and I’ve found that many psoriasis patients simply aren’t interested in going down this path.
When a person is affected with plaque psoriasis, their skin cells have an accelerated growth with lots of premature (not fully developed) skin cells coming to the surface, forming thick skin plaques.You can read a lot more here about psoriasis.
The itching, cracking of skins and pain may or may not be the cause or symptoms for plaque psoriasis. The plaque psoriasis is detected with their distinctive silver white emergence and the skin that is inflamed under has a reddish tinge. Moreover, the patient will feel a burning sensation when the plaques of affected skin area are touched with clothing.
Plaque psoriasis is also found to have hereditary links. On the other hand, it can also erupt when exposed to sunlight, excessive smoking, excessive alcohol intake and inherent immune conditions. This type of psoriasis can be severe, asymptomatic, mild and acute. The plaque psoriasis may recur again in a week’s time or a month or after a long period. Hence, adequate precaution and treatment is essential to prevent its recurrence.
The common symptoms and formation of plaque psoriasis with scaly skin are as follows:
Plaque psoriasis
The fissures of plaque psoriasis are cracks or splits on the skin. The fissure happens when the skin is put under pressure to bend near the elbows, knees and other such joint areas. At this juncture, the patient may experience bleeding due to splitting of the skin and thus becomes vulnerable to infection. The stain of the affected area is red in color similar to the Salmon fish, hence known as “Salmon-colored”. However, the affected area near the legs is often blue in color. Therefore, it is easy for a dermatologist or a doctor to diagnose the disease.
The treatment for plaque psoriasis is dependent on the severity of the affected areas and the patient’s condition. If the occurrence is diagnosed as mild then doctors normally prescribe topical medicines, such as ointments, gels, creams, etc. However, persons suffering from plaque psoriasis in the scalp region are advised to use shampoos and oils.
A correct psoriasis diet and exercise regime are also helpful. When it comes to the conventional medical treatment of psoriasis, and psoriasis is found to be moderate or severe in nature, strong medication is recommended . The medicines and treatments includes topical, oral, injections, phototherapy, and systemic. The topical medicines application varies from ointments, moisturizer, and salicylic acid to corticosteroids. When the patient has very stubborn plaques or patches, then powerful topical medicines are the best alternative.
The affected parts of the body, scalp and face, treated with coal tar leaves a stinking smell as well as stains the wearing clothes. It is prudent to use this topical medicine at night by covering the coal tar applied areas with socks and clothes. In the morning, wash away the coal tar by using coal tar shampoo and leave it for at least ten minutes to get rid of the pungent smell. Thereafter you can use scented shampoo or conditioner to get rid of the foul smell.
Many people who are affected with plaque psoriasis are inclined to use topical ointments or creams with steroid blends. Doctors treating this disease also prescribe strong topical ointments and creams with steroid, which when applied, can help to reduce the inflammation of the affected area, but the side-effects can range from mild to severe. These ointments and cream are not generally safe to use long term, and while they may have a positive effect on the damaged skin short term, it is not a wise solution to use they daily for very long periods.
Many psoriasis patients are in fact dissatisfied with medical treatments of their psoriasis.
Moreover, calcipotriol cream, which is a compound obtained from vitamin D3 containing its basic and parental element, also applied in plaque psoriasis. This is strong topical medicine, which starts irritation of the skin but reduces the inflammation of the affected areas. Compounds derived from vitamin A such as Accutane and other retinoids are used along with therapy, but their side efects can also be extreme in some cases. Retinoids may help in regulating the cell production, bone tissues and helps in immune function, but their use has been linked to many different diseases, including ulcerative colitis. Isotretinoin is in fact strongly linked to ulcerative colitis.
UVA and UVB rays are also one of the effective and common treatments for plaque psoriasis. However, the patient is also advised by his/her doctor to expose the skin to the sunlight periodically in shot intervals. This sun therapy should be undertaken with proper guidance and monitoring by the doctor. The other types of ray treatments are UVB phototherapy, narrow-band UVB therapy and photochemotherapy. The exposure to such rays need direct supervision of an expert doctor.
Potent immunosuppressant drugs, which reduce the activation of the immune system, could have serious side effects and as such, they are not applied in general cases but in severe to very severe and recalcitrant cases of this type of psoriasis.
Plaque Psoriasis Treatment With Natural Remedies
People suffering from plaque psoriasis can treat their disease at home with commonly available natural medicines. The best plaque psoriasis treatment is baths with oatmeal or Epsom salt, which provides considerable relief to the damaged skin. It is necessary to keep the water in lukewarm temperature and restrict the uses of soaps, perfumes or any type of dyes. After the bath, it is essential to apply prescribed topical medicines or moisturizers that retain the dampness of the skin. Using moisturizers before sleep and wrapping the affected portions is also beneficial as it keeps the skin moist for a longer period. If you experience itching and inflammation, then apply creams which contains hydrocortisone or salicylic acid.
The properties of salicylic acid are to reduce the inflammation of the skin and stop further scaling. It helps in dissolving the dead skins that build up around the affected areas. It acts as an antiseptic as well as disinfectant. This property of the acid helps the affected skin with fungal growth and bacterial infection. The infection leads to itching and thus aggravates the propensity of plaque psoriasis. A very high form of diluted salicylic acid is used, that contains only three percent in the compound mixture, whose strength is reduced. This prevents skin irritation and reduces the inflamed area.
Diet regimen during plaque psoriasis
Choosing of diets during the period of suffering is highly desirable. The diet should be healthy, time bound, helpful for the disease and acceptable to the patient. The diet regimen may continue for a prolonged period or lifelong if plaque psoriasis recurs at periodic interval. Deviation of the regimen may aggravate the disease. Healthy food containing green vegetables and fruits along with proteins, if advised keeps the body healthy along with the skin. If the body is healthy then the immune system is perfect. When the immune system is perfect, no disease can attack easily.
Drinking coffee or other substances that contains caffeine and discarding intake of alcohol can assist is curing the disease. Avoid such foods, which create allergies in your body. The allergies result in itching and this aggravates the plaque psoriasis. Diet food does not imply restricted food intake but change in the food items with certain restrictions and allowances.
Moisturize the skin
Every doctor and their patients have opined that moisturizing is the best method to get relieve from the effects of plaque psoriasis. Moisturizing helps in softening the hard scales of the affected areas, this is removed with ease and keeps the skin soft. Topical medicine helps in building moisture content in the epidermis. Doctor prescribes topical medicines that helps creating a protective barrier to the skin and prevents the skin from getting dry.
Moisturizing helps in lessening the reddish hard growth of plaques in and around the skin. There are several topical medicines but you can also use body oils to upkeep the moisture level in the skin. It prevents the growth of scales.
To sum up, plaque psoriasis is a chronic disease and it is prudent as well as essential to take necessary preventive measures to reduce the inflammation, eat proper diet, adhere to regular exercises and have control over stress.
Further Reading:
Web MD The 7 Types Of Psoriasis