Skin diseases are many and varied. It is why; before concluding on the right medication to seek, it is imperative to consult a specialist, in this case, a dermatologist.
It is not said that a physician cannot determine health problems such as skin infections.
Sometimes it depends on whose help you are seeking because there are physicians who by looking at your skin, are able to tell whether you are suffering from psoriasis, eczema, acne or any other type of infections.
The only big concern is that when it comes to certain health conditions, it is imperative patients consult doctors who are specialized in given areas if they want to have a proper diagnosis.
In this post, we look at psoriasis, in particular, its causes.
First things first, it would be injustice for some readers if we assume everyone knows what it means.
Defining Psoriasis
Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay
What is Psoriasis?
Definition of psoriasis is a type of skin infection that is said to be autoimmune in nature. It is always evident when skin cells get inflamed, turned scaly and red.
Most of the times, psoriasis appears as white/silver red and thick patches on the skin’s surface.
The patches often bleed and crack.
Before one becomes a victim of psoriasis, there has to be overproduction of skin cells in the inner layers, which then rise to the surface.
It could take between a few days to a week depending on how fast the process is, and in no time, buildup of excess skin cells on the body surface occurs.
Some of the body parts that often get affected by psoriasis are joints (elbows and knee joints).
However, there is always a likelihood that psoriasis can also develop in other parts of the body such as feet, neck, hands, scalp and hands.
Other parts that get affected by uncommon types of the skin disease as mouth and nails, thus, you will realize that depending on the affected area, there are different types of psoriasis.
Health conditions associated with Psoriasis
Apart from autoimmune reactions that speed up development of psoriasis, there are other health conditions associated with the disease namely heart infections, type-2 diabetes, bowel diseases and psoriasis arthritis.
Studies according to national psoriasis foundation indicate that more than 8 million Americans have psoriasis and there is always a high possibility that patients also suffer from any of the above diseases.
Now, as to whether it is a contagious disease, the answer is no.
Whether by touching affected skin or through body contact, you will not be affected or infected.
It would interest you to know that doctors remain unclear about what causes psoriasis despite spending decades researching on the skin condition.
They have fronted two possibilities namely genetics and autoimmune causes. In the first case, they posit that people can inherit the diseases.
For example, if a family member has psoriasis, chances are high that you will also be infected, which brings to the fore genetic explanation.
The other cause is autoimmune reactions. When T-cells (white blood cells) attack skin cells, production of the latter become excessive and the result is build-up of skin cells on the body surface, a condition referred to as psoriasis.
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