Monday, April 4, 2011

Things you can do at Home to Control Psoriasis

By John Danew


Psoriasis is a genetic skin condition that involves scaling, red patches, and thick plaques. In people with psoriasis a combination of genes (which have not yet all been identified by researchers) can be triggered to cause it. The affect of having psoriasis on your everyday life depends on the severity of your condition, but it is a statistical fact that depression rates are higher amongst those with psoriasis and those with moderate to severe conditions feel emotions such as shame and embarrassment and try to keep covered to avoid stares and questions. At the moment there is not a cure for psoriasis, there are medications to help manage it, and there are ways of managing psoriasis at home, the latter of which we will dip into here.

Finding ways to prevent your skin from always being dry. A humidifier may be worth investing in as you can keep a room or two more humid. Another way to use water is by bathing often to re-hydrate your skin. It also helps slough off some of the skin and gives you some relief from the itching and soothes any inflammation. If you have been taking hot baths though this may be making your skin worse, as hot water aggravates psoriasis. Change the temperature of your baths and showers to lukewarm.

When you bathe make sure you use soaps that are mild and that have moisturizing cream in them. Chemicals can make your skin worse and so can perfumed soaps. After bathing just blot yourself dry and then moisturize yourself to keep your skin supple and prevent cracking. Make sure you choose a suitable moisturizer free of perfumes, a Vitamin E cream would be a good choice.

Understanding your condition further will help you to manage psoriasis at home. Things like what medications can irritate your skin further like lithium, beta blockers and anti-malaria drugs. The doctor treating your psoriasis may be aware of this when prescribing drugs for you, but other doctors do not know until you tell them.

As hard as it is you need to try and control the scratching. Make better choices when it comes to clothing - often sufferers find cotton is the best material. Sun is a part of treatment for many psoriasis patients but sun burn makes it worse so be sure to protect your skin. If you have a weight problem this too may be making things worse for you, so try to loose some of the extra pounds.




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