Diagnosis and medical treatments for psoriasis

As stated previously, there is currently no recognized cure for psoriasis.

However, there are many different forms of treatment that will be more or less effective depending upon the specific type of psoriasis that you suffer from, and the severity of your condition. Hence, there is not any one form of treatment that is used or recommended as a ‘catch all’ medical treatment for psoriasis.

Now, before moving to the treatment stage, the first thing that you need to do is establish that the skin complaint that you have is indeed one form of psoriasis or another. This is not possible to do on your own, so you will need to consult a dermatologist or other recognized medical practitioner for a professional diagnosis of your condition.

Once the condition that you have as been confirmed as psoriasis, it is likely that the dermatologist will recommend a particular type of treatment, the selection which depend upon a number of factors such as:
• The specific type of psoriasis that you have been diagnosed with;
• The severity of the condition, often measured by the percentage of skin affected;
• Your age, medical history and general state of health;
• The location of the psoriatic lesions and
• The overall effects that your condition appears to be having on you in terms of your physical and emotional well-being.

Once the answers to all of these questions have been established, your dermatologist is in a position to recommend a particular type of treatment for you. And again, these methods of treatment can be broken down into several different categories:

• If your psoriasis is mild to moderate, you may be recommended topical treatments, creams or lotions that can be applied to the affected area;

• Systematic treatments, those that you ingest orally or are injected might be the recommended choice is your psoriasis is more serious or

• In some cases, phototherapy (i.e. treatment by the application of light to affected areas) or laser therapy might be recommended.

Let us consider each of these different types of treatment to consider how they work, how effective they might be and whether there are any potential hazards or side-effects of which you might need to be aware.

Topical psoriasis treatments
There are various different types of topical psoriasis treatments, some of which are potentially more hazardous than others. The main treatments which are likely to come across or be recommended to buy your dermatologist or other medical practitioner are as follows.

Anthralin: Anthralin is a synthetic substitute for a naturally occurring substance known as chrysarobin which was originally extracted from the bark of the araroba tree that is most common found in South America.

The original natural substance was used as a treatment of psoriasis for at least 100 years, with both the original substance and the synthetic substitute being proved to be very effective for treating the plaques that are commonly associated with psoriasis vulgaris.

It is believed that anthralin works on psoriatic lesions by normalizing the growth rate of the skin cells, thereby gradually reducing the buildup of individual plaque areas to minimize inflammation.
Whilst anthralin is not as effective as topical steroids, it does not have the known long-term side-effects either. However, it can cause skin irritation, and it is not unknown for anthralin to leave permanent stains on almost everything it touches, including clothing and even bathroom furniture.

Coal Tar cream or ointment: As the name most probably suggests, coal tar is a thick brown liquid that is extracted as a byproduct of the carbonization of coal. It is a product that has a strong smell that many people find unpleasant or off-putting, but it is also one of the oldest known treatments for psoriasis, and in many situations, it is very effective for dealing with moderate to mild psoriasis.
There are many different coal tar psoriasis preparations, some of which can be bought over the counter at your local pharmacy or drugstore. These different formulations are used to treat inflammation, scaling and itching, and they can come in creams that are directly applied to the affected area, shampoo (coal tar is effective for scalp psoriasis) and even in a solution that you add to your bath water which apparently helps to slow down the development of new lesions.

The main advantage of coal tar as a psoriasis treatment is that because the base materials are cheap and plentiful, the treatment itself is usually not expensive. On the other hand, many people find the smell of coal tar repugnant, and because of the dark coloration, it does have a tendency to stain everything it touches.

In addition, some psoriasis sufferers find that using coal tar over a sustained period of time can cause unpleasant skin irritation, which is a last thing anyone who has a condition which is naturally itchy needs.

Tazarotene: Tazarotene is a man-made derivative of vitamin A. that is commonly prescribed for various different types of skin afflictions, including psoriasis, sunburn and acne. It is generally used to treat mild to moderate psoriasis vulgaris, whilst it has also been used to treat nail psoriasis with a degree of success as well.
Tazarotene commonly causes local skin irritation when applied, and is known to be more effective when used in conjunction with topical corticosteroids.
It works by normalizing skin cell production activity, and is known to be effective on harder to treat areas of the body, such as knees and elbows.

However, in addition to the known skin irritation, it is known that other similar manmade derivatives of vitamin A. have been implicated in causing birth defects when taken systematically. Whilst applying such a substance topically is far less dangerous than ingesting it systematically, it is nevertheless true that using Tazarotene whilst pregnant might not be too wise.

Corticosteroids: Undoubtedly the most powerful and effective of the topical treatments for psoriasis are applied corticosteroids, but they are also the treatment that carries the greatest risk of long-term adverse side effects as well. Nevertheless, because of their effectiveness for reducing inflammation and itching whilst retarding the over-rapid rate of skin cell growth, corticosteroids are probably the most commonly prescribed topical psoriasis treatment.

Corticosteroid treatments come in various different strengths ranging from relatively mild to extremely strong, but prolonged use of these substances could have noticeable adverse side-effects. For example, it is acknowledged that corticosteroids cause thinning of the skin, excess body hair, dilate the blood vessels and they can lead to infections invading the body as well (often because of the thinned skin).Furthermore, it is believed that they may inhibit growth in children and that long-term use renders them increasingly ineffective whilst not preventing the adverse side-effects.

The bottom line is, using corticosteroid creams, potions or lotions to treat psoriasis could result in far more problems than they solve, and it is therefore something that you want to avoid doing if at all possible.

Systematic psoriasis treatments

For moderate to milder cases of psoriasis, topical treatments are generally the first solution that a dermatologist or medical practitioner will recommend. However, in a situation where the condition is considered more serious, it is probably more likely that they will recommend some form of systematic treatment.

Given that systematic treatments are usually prescribed only for serious and severe psoriasis, it follows that the drugs being used are considerably stronger. Consequently, the potential side-effects are also far more hazardous.

Acitretin: Acitretin is a powerful vitamin A. derivative (a retinoid) that is taken orally under medical supervision. This particular systematic treatment has been shown to be effective in dealing with both erythrodermic and pustular psoriasis and works particularly well when used in combination with phototherapy.

However, the side-effects could eventually be very unpleasant or dangerous, and therefore constant medical attention and supervision is absolutely necessary. Possible side-effects include severe headaches, raised lipid levels in the blood, hair loss, dry or sticky skin and aching joints.

Cyclosporine: Cyclosporine is a very powerful immunosuppressive drug that is effective for treating severe plaque psoriasis and nail psoriasis. Whilst it is are very powerful and effective treatment, it is generally reserved for those patients for whom other forms of psoriasis treatment have not worked, owing to the possibility of severe adverse side-effects, including irreparable kidney damage.
Methotrexate: Methotrexate was one of the first commonly used chemotherapy drugs which is still used to treat moderate to severe psoriasis. Whilst it is extremely effective in doing so, it is another systematic treatment that has to be very carefully monitored because of the possibility of serious and long lasting damage to the liver.

As you will probably have gathered by now, all of the systematic psoriasis treatments that are commonly used for dealing with moderate toare are serious or severe psoriasis are extremely powerful drugs. Consequently, it should come as no great surprise that they all have potentially serious side effects and can only be used under strict medical supervision.

Given the obvious danger inherent in taking systematic psoriasis treatments such as these, it obviously makes sense to seek natural alternatives wherever possible.

Phototherapy and laser treatment for psoriasis
Some of the treatments that have already been mentioned (e.g. acetritin) work even more effectively when they are combined with phototherapy, which is usually the application of ultraviolet light or the use of a laser.

In terms of using ultraviolet light to treat psoriasis, it is possible to undergo treatment from either ultraviolet light A or ultraviolet light B, and whilst both work in a broadly similar way, there are some differences.

In both cases, ultraviolet light is applied to the lesion area for a period of time, and in both cases, the treatment is highly effective. However, on the downside, both forms of UV treatment require many visits to the clinic or hospital over a period of time, and they do have downside as well.
In the case of UVA treatment, there is an increased risk of skin freckling, ageing and even skin cancer in a case where a patient has suffered long-term exposure to UVA light. In addition, side-effects can include nausea, headaches, burning or itching skin, irregular skin pigmentation and general fatigue.

Where UVB treatment is concerned, it is more likely that the patient will have to undergo further bouts of treatment because although the phototherapy is effectively for removing lesions, it tends to do so less permanently. And, once again, long-term exposure to UVB light increases the risk of skin cancer.

Laser therapy on the other hand is far more powerful than either of the ultraviolet light treatments, but at the same time, it is far more targeted as well. This is an advantage in one way in that using laser light to reduce or remove lesions is extremely effective, but it also means that only a relatively small area of the body can be treated at any one time.

In addition, the treatment can sometimes be painful whilst it can also cause irregular darkening of the skin and scarring as well. Once again therefore, whilst phototherapy and laser treatment are very effective, they both have significant downsides.

Consequently, you should consider the natural solutions that I’m going to propose over the next couple of chapters before subjecting yourself to potentially harmful pharmaceutical drugs or treatments that might cause complications.

However, you must also understand that there may be situations where your psoriasis is not treatable using entirely natural methods, primarily because natural treatments are almost always far gentler and less invasive than the strongest of chemical–based pharmaceuticals.

Nevertheless, unless your psoriasis is graded as serious or severe, it still makes sense to consider using natural forms of treatment before considering using powerful chemicals on or in your body.

It should only be after experimenting with natural solutions and finding that they can do nothing for you that you should resort to the chemical-based drugs that your medical attendant or dermatologist will undoubtedly recommend to you.