Can Psoriasis Be Cured, Or Are You Stuck With It?
Article by Oscar B Dewsbury
Although it is not a life threatening or debilitating illness, psoriasis is a condition that can have an adverse affect on a persons quality of life. The ugly looking patches of inflamed and reddened skin that are typical of this disease can psychologically scar someone, often to the extent that they will do anything to have clear skin once again. The question is, when psoriasis strikes can it actually be cured at all?
Whilst medical breakthroughs are happening all the time, psoriasis is a condition that is still something of a puzzle to the medical science community. It is known that the problem has something to do with the immune system, because it is the body’s own immune mechanism that kick starts psoriasis in the first place. When a psoriasis flare up occurs, it is the result of the activation of T-cells within the body. Whilst these cells are normally used to fight infection, in a case of psoriasis they actually start to rapidly generate new skin cells.
When the body creates excess amounts of skin cells like this, they have nowhere to go but to sit on the surface of the skin until they are ready to die off. It is the build up of these skin cells that is what we see as red flaky patches of psoriasis. Having traced the cause of psoriasis back to the activation of these T-cells, it is the reason they become activated in the first place that remains the elusive last piece of the puzzle of psoriasis. However, the knowledge that psoriasis is triggered by the immune system has led to the development of treatments that can help people afflicted with the disease.
The most commonly prescribed treatment for psoriasis is the use of steroid creams, which can be applied directly onto the affected areas of skin. These creams have proven to be effective in stopping the skin cell over production, which results in the patches of psoriasis on the skin to gradually fade. Although you usually need a prescription from your doctor to use steroid creams, a much weaker version is also available as an over the counter treatment.
There are a few down sides to the use of steroid creams, and it is important to understand them before you consider a course of this type of treatment. Firstly, they are only effective for as long as you are using them. Once you stop applying the cream everyday you will begin to see the psoriasis return. Secondly, steroid creams are only safe used short term. Certain side effects, such as a gradual weakening of the skin mean that your doctor will only allow you to use them periodically.
To return to our original question of whether or not psoriasis can be cured, the honest answer is no, it cannot. Steroid creams are an effective treatment, but they are only a treatment that targets the symptoms of the condition, whereas a cure would target the cause of it. Will a cure exits one day? Anything is possible, but it would not be wise to pin too much hope on it happening anytime soon.
About the Author
Learn more about how age old psoriasis cures can be effective, an read how what you eat is essential in beating psoriasis.
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