Psoriaisis

Psoriasis is a disease that has been associated with humans since the beginning of time. It is a type of autoimmune disease that produces red, slivery, and scaly patches to appear on the skin. Autoimmune disease is a type of disease that occurs when the body’s immune system mistaken the body’s organs as foreign substance. Psoriasis is chronic and can affect people of all ages but it is not contagious. There are currently about 125 million people around the world suffering from psoriasis or about 3% of the world’s total population. This essay will discuss the importance, biochemistry, and the potential treatment options of psoriasis.

There are 5 main types of psoriasis and they are: plaque, guttate, inverse, pustular, and erythrodermic. The type of psoriasis is diagnosed based on the appearance and can be confirmed with either skin biopsy or the patient’s medical history. Skin biopsy involves the removal of the patient’s skin sample to be analyzed under a microscope and base on the appearance to determine the type of skin disease the patient has. Psoriasis tends to occur within families that have it. Plaque psoriasis or psoriasis vulgaris is the most common type of psoriasis and is responsible for 80% of all patients with psoriasis. Young and middle aged adults are most affected by this type of psoriasis. People with plaque psoriasis experience raised red scaly lesions on their body that tend to itch and crack to bleed. These patches are generally known to appear on the knees, elbows, scalp, and the back but they may appear anywhere on the skin. Around 10 to 20 percent of patients with plaque psoriasis will develop psoriatic arthritis in their life time. Guttate psoriasis usually target people younger than 30 years...

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...n of skin cells and reduces inflammation of the lesions. The side effect of using immunosuppressant is that the patient’s immune system becomes more prone to foreign invaders and can lead to infections and long term users may also experience organ damage, high blood pressure, and cholesterol level. Biologics are protein based drugs that are derived from living organisms. Biologics are a relatively new way of treating psoriasis and they have little to no side effects. This type of treatment is usually given through either injection or intravenous infusion. Most common biologics used are: Enbrel, Remicade, Humira, and Stelara. The downside with using biologics is that they are very expensive as they typically cost $10000 to $30000 for a year of treatments. Biologics are also immunosuppressants that also pose risk for infections due to the decline of the immune system.