What is Psoriasis? Frequently Asked Questions Answered

Last Updated on 13/10/2023 by Liz @ HealthTenfold

Contents hide

1 What is Psoriasis?

1.1 Symptoms of Psoriasis

2 Commonly Asked Questions about Psoriasis

2.1 Is Psoriasis Contagious?

2.2 Is Psoriasis a Fungus?

2.3 Is Psoriasis an Autoimmune Disorder?

2.4 Is Psoriasis Cancer?

2.5 Is Psoriasis Deadly?

2.6 How to Get Rid of Psoriasis?

Psoriasis is a common skin condition that affects an estimated 8 million people in the U.S. It affects people of all ages, races, and both sexes equally. This article will be tackling all questions you may have concerning this condition from what is psoriasis to whether it’s deadly and everything in between.

What is Psoriasis?

Symptoms of Psoriasis

The symptoms according to the different types of psoriasis include:

Plaque Psoriasis
It’s the most common type and it’s characterized by raised, red, and dry lesions or patches of skin that are covered with silver or white scales. They are often itchy and tender and they may be many or few in number. They usually appear on the elbows, lower back, knees, and scalp.

Nail Psoriasis
This type of psoriasis affects the nails of your fingers and toes. It causes discoloration, pitting, and abnormal growth of the nails. It may cause the separation or loosening of the nails from their nail beds or in serious cases, the nail may just crumble.

Inverse Psoriasis
This type of psoriasis affects the folds of the skin in the groin, breasts, and buttocks. It causes the appearance of smooth skin that is made worse by sweating and friction between the skin folds.

Postular Psoriasis
It’s a rare type of psoriasis that causes the appearance of patches that are filled with pus. The patches may either be spread over a large area or in a small area like on the palms or soles of your feet.

Guttate Psoriasis
It is characterized by small, drop-like spots, and scaled patches that mostly appear on the arms, legs, and torso. Guttate psoriasis is triggered by a bacterial infection like strep throat.

Erythrodermic Psoriasis
This is a rare type of psoriasis and it’s characterized by an extremely itchy red and peeling rash that can be spread over your whole body.

Psoriatic Arthritis
Its symptoms are very similar to arthritis and they include swollen and painful joints. Any joint in the body can be affected. Other symptoms may include changes in your nails. The symptoms can range from mild to severe and in serious cases, joint stiffness may progress until your joints become permanently damaged.

Note that it’s possible for one person to have several types of psoriasis at once.

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Commonly Asked Questions about Psoriasis

Is Psoriasis Contagious?

Psoriasis is not a contagious skin condition. People who develop psoriasis have a genetic predisposition for developing it. However, just because you have genes that can make you develop psoriasis, doesn’t mean you will. Environmental triggers also play an important role in causing psoriasis.

The environmental triggers are as follows:

Exposure to the sun
Exposure to cold
Infections
Trauma to the skin through burns, bug bites, or cuts
Excessive drinking of alcohol
Smoking
Stress
Medications such as iodides, lithium, and high blood pressure medications

These triggers mostly cause inflammations and that’s why they lead to flare-ups, for example, the nicotine in cigarettes causes the inflammation of your skin cells.

Is Psoriasis a Fungus?

Psoriasis occurs as a result of the body protecting itself from an existent or non-existent infection, such as a fungal or yeast infection. The presence of fungal infections in the body makes the body more likely to develop psoriasis.

Therefore, psoriasis is not a fungus neither is it directly caused by fungus. The immune system’s reaction to fungal infections is what may cause psoriasis flare-ups.

Is Psoriasis an Autoimmune Disorder?

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease whose real cause remains unknown and it causes inflammation that manifests as raised patches on the skin. It occurs due to an overactive immune system that fights against healthy skin cells, mistaking them for harmful foreign organisms in the body. As a result, there’s an abnormal growth of skin cells and instead of the older cells falling off, they pile up and form scales and raised plaques on the skin. The normal turnover rate of skin cells for healthy people is a month but in psoriatic patients, the process of growing new skin cells takes a few days.

The plaques are also a sign of inflammation which is the natural response of the immune system. These plaques and scales make you experience a burning and itching sensation.

Since psoriasis is an autoimmune disease with an unknown cause, finding the cure for it is has been futile.

Most recommended:

H-Psoriasis Formula

Manufactured by Natural Healing Oils.

Buy here

Check the great reviews. Only pure oils, no additives.

Is Psoriasis Cancer?

Psoriasis is not cancer but an autoimmune disease that causes the skin to grow faster than usual. However, some doctors think that people with psoriasis have a higher chance of developing some types of cancers. A study done in 2016 came to the conclusion that there’s a little chance of people with psoriasis to develop cancer. The types of cancer that were found to be linked to psoriasis were lung cancer, lymphoma, and non-melanoma cancer.

Another way psoriasis could lead to cancer is its treatments. Treatments such as phototherapy and immunosuppressants used to treat psoriasis could lead to a higher risk of developing cancer.

Please take note that psoriasis is not an actual cause of cancer and neither does cancer cause psoriasis; they are two very distinct conditions. However, some types of skin cancer may look similar to psoriasis. Therefore, when you notice a drastic change in the appearance of your skin, do not hesitate to see a doctor about it.

Is Psoriasis Deadly?

Psoriasis is not considered a life-threatening disease but for those who have severe cases of it, it may lead to an increased chance of earlier death. However, not many people have a severe form of psoriasis; most people suffer from mild forms.

However, psoriasis is linked with other conditions that may prove deadly. These conditions include atherosclerosis, strokes, heart attacks, and peripheral artery disease. Psoriasis doesn’t cause any of these conditions but it has symptoms that are similar to them like inflammation and the presence of active proteins known as cytokines. Inflammation and cytokines can cause the clogging of arteries and raise the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Psoriasis is a life-long condition that you have to learn to live with while finding ways to manage its symptoms.