Stages of development of psoriasis

Psoriasis is one of the most well-known and widespread skin diseases. It has been known to mankind for many centuries. Previously, when the development of medicine was at a very low level, no one was able to determine what type of disease it was and where it came from. Many confused it with leprosy, since the external symptoms coincided in certain phases. Recent data indicate that about 3% of the world population suffers from psoriasis. The disease affects mainly young people under the age of 25, but there are also many cases where people over 50 fall ill. Despite significant advances in the development of medicine, there is still no uniform information on the causes of the disease.

In this article, we will discuss with you the known causes and descriptions of the symptoms of the disease. We will also look in detail at how this chronic disease occurs and what stages of psoriasis can be distinguished.

Causes of psoriasis

Medical professionals and scientists continue to research the causes of chronic psoriasis. However, they are never able to discover with absolute certainty why this disease develops.

The only thing that is known for sure is how psoriatic eruptions occur. This is due to the fact that the body's immune system is functioning abnormally, resulting in an autoimmune reaction. The cells of the body begin to aggressively affect their own tissues, inflammatory processes occur that are reflected in the skin in the form of seals, rashes and flaking.

Today, the following reasons for the development of psoriasis are known:

1. Genetic predisposition. If your parents or close relatives have had psoriasis, you are more likely to get the disease.
2. Stressful situations and neuropsychic tension. A very popular reason for other illnesses as well. Considering how many stressful situations exist in the life of a modern person, it is not surprising that more and more people are suffering from psoriasis.
3. Disorders of the endocrine system. They cause a violation of the body's hormonal background, due to which various diseases can occur.
4. Interrupted metabolism, vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Particular attention should be paid to silicon deficiency. Its lack leads to the fact that the skin structure is disrupted, the vessels become weaker and the connective tissues are at risk for various diseases. The main cause of silicon deficiency can be an unbalanced diet or intestinal parasites that suck all the silicon out of the body.
5. Intestinal parasites. Microorganisms such as swine and bovine tapeworms, roundworms, tricurids and lamblia, as a result of their active life, emit many toxic substances to the body. They cause inflammation and allergic reactions and weaken the immune system. As a result, the risk of developing psoriasis increases.

6. Viral infections. Some viruses significantly weaken the body's defenses, which ultimately leads to several diseases, including psoriasis.

How psoriasis develops and the symptoms of the disease

Although psoriasis looks very unsightly and causes a lot of inconvenience to the patient, it is not transmitted by contact. That is, you will not have psoriasis if you hug or shake the hand of a friend who suffers from this disease. You can continue to use the same household items and personal care products as a towel.

If you remember the school biology course, most of us know that the skin is a very complex organ in the human body. Any disturbances in the body's work will lead to the fact that it will also work with disturbances. Often, all skin cells gradually die and new ones appear in place of old ones. The old cells are discreetly removed from the body's surface. The average cycle of replacing all skin cells lasts about a month.

Whatever the cause of psoriasis in each particular case, any disturbance in the functioning of the body leads to a weakening of its protective function. As a result, the life cycle of skin cells is reduced significantly, up to several days. Dead cells do not have time to be completely removed and specific seals appear on the body's surface - the so-called psoriatic plaques. They are very painful, the skin around them is slightly inflamed and peeling can also be seen.

Initial psoriasis occurs mainly in the wrists, elbows, knees and popliteal spaces. Gradually, the rash appears on other parts of the body and, in most cases, covers most of its surface.

In addition to peeling psoriatic plaques, the following symptoms of the disease are observed:

1. Bleeding wounds occurring at the site of the greatest damage to the skin. It can occur as a result of cracks and scratches on the skin.
2. Disturbance of nails. They become brittle, exfoliate, discolor and various lumps appear on their surface.
3. Itching, which often becomes unbearable, especially at night.
4. Inflammation of damaged skin and joint pain. By the way, if chronic psoriasis affects the joints, its shape is considered severe, regardless of how many percent of the body is affected.

Stages of psoriasis

The course of the disease is divided into three main phases - progressive, stationary and regressive. The first phase is characterized by the fact that the disease starts to get worse, the second is a period of persistent state of the body, in which the symptoms do not worsen more or less. The third stage is the stage of weakening the disease, when it enters a state of rest. In some patients, the external symptoms may disappear completely. In addition, some experts identify the so-called early stage, when the symptoms of the disease are just beginning to appear, and a number of patients have managed to recover completely from it. In many cases, the line between the stages is somewhat blurred. Let us now look at the stages of psoriasis separately.

Initial stage

At an early stage of development, the disease is just beginning to affect the skin. A pinhead-sized rash starts to appear, but it may get bigger over time. The first symptoms are rashes on the elbows and popliteal cavities. It is noteworthy that the plates may not grow in size for a long time. They are pink in color, but over time they are covered with a gray-white layer. This indicates that the skin cells die very quickly, their life cycle is noticeably reduced, due to which the new epithelium does not have time to grow. It is at this stage that you need to start sounding the alarm and immediately contact a dermatologist who will help you choose a course of treatment.

Progress stage

The progressive stage is a period of exacerbation of the disease. The progressive stage is characterized by the following symptoms:

1. New psoriatic plaques can appear in places of mechanical damage to the skin - burns, scratches, injections, cuts, abrasions and so on. In addition, they can also occur due to the fact that in some places the skin is rubbed with clothes, and even if you actively use a face towel for the bath. This process is called the Koebner phenomenon and can last from 3 to 21 days.

2. The number of plates increases, increases in size and merges. These papules are easily removable from the surface of the skin and the blood comes out. Dry scales can be seen on its surface, but do not come off at the edges. It is noteworthy that a very clear line is discernible between healthy skin and diseased skin.
3. Intense and prolonged itching. It usually intensifies at night, as well as in the hot season. It is very unpleasant, intrusive and also very painful. Because of this, the normal rhythm of life is interrupted and the patient is deprived of peace. In addition, if you scratch your skin, new psoriatic plaques will appear.
4. Gradual increase in the affected area. Psoriasis begins to damage the surface of the back, chest, limbs, head and other parts of the body.
5. Damage to the nails. They become brittle, brittle, lose their natural color and also exfoliate from the nail bed.

6. Damage to the joints. This type of disease is called psoriatic arthritis. The pain in the joints gradually increases as they deform. Due to the lack of treatment, the condition only worsens.

Stationary stage

In this phase, stability is observed: no new lesions appear, the psoriatic plaques are completely covered by a scaly layer and some unpleasant sensations disappear.

The following symptoms may also be seen:

1. Increased flaking. With the progressive stage of the disease, the scales did not completely cover the injured lesions, a reddish border could be seen along the edges, separating the psoriatic plaque from the healthy skin. Now all the damaged areas are completely covered with scaly scales.
2. Lack of growth in the size of the plate. They remain on the same level.
3. Absence of the Koebner phenomenon, that is, when the skin is damaged, no new psoriatic plaques appear.
4. Approximately half of the patients may have the so-called pseudo-atrophic Voronov corolla. It is a light colored border around the plate, no more than 2 mm wide.

Backward stage

The most pleasant and long-awaited phase after a long-term treatment. We can say the last step. The exacerbation of the disease and various stages of treatment are already behind us, and the state of health is improving significantly. The main task now will be to prevent subsequent exacerbations of psoriasis. In some patients, the plaque disappears almost to zero. The regressive stage of psoriasis has several other characteristics. Which?

1. Pseudo-atrophic corolla. The scales practically disappear, and light, light folds appear around the places where the psoriatic plaques were located. Because this symptom is also characteristic of the previous stage, the regressive stage should not be determined by him alone.
2. Almost total disappearance of flaking.
3. Light patches of age appear in place of psoriatic plaques.

Treatment of the disease

It is impossible to completely get rid of psoriasis with modern medicine. The only thing that has been achieved recently is a long-term remission. In some successful cases, it can last almost a lifetime. But if you are still far from improving, be prepared for the fact that periods of exacerbation can occur almost every month, or even more often. But what if your psoriasis is just beginning to develop? What steps should be taken if you suspect the first stage of the disease?

The most important rule is never to self-medicate. The pharmaceutical market has a very large number of drugs designed to combat this dermatological disease. Without the necessary knowledge, it is very easy to cause the opposite effect with self-medication, when, instead of the expected improvement, your condition significantly worsens.

The biggest mistake in psoriasis is to start taking hormonal medications on your own. They usually come in the form of an ointment. Without consulting a specialist and with inadequate treatment, very serious side effects can occur: hormonal imbalance, addiction, skin atrophy and, if the medication is stopped abruptly, the so-called withdrawal syndrome can occur. Even if it is possible to achieve some positive changes, the disease may return very soon, but it will be much more difficult to proceed. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is to consult a dermatologist.

After contacting a specialist, he will prescribe a series of tests for you, after which, depending on the indications and the severity of the course of the disease, he will prescribe individual treatment. It can be influenced by a number of factors: age, area where you live, working conditions, gender, as well as the individual characteristics of the organism. In addition, possible allergic reactions to medications should be taken into account, as well as the presence of bad habits. In the regression stage, the main thing is not to harm.

All treatment methods can be divided into three main groups:

1. Local treatment - used in all cases of the disease, regardless of the severity and stage of psoriasis. Various creams and ointments, moisturizers, hormonal ointments based on glucocorticoids, herbal preparations are used.
2. Therapeutic procedures are prescribed for the form of psoriasis of any severity. This includes ultraviolet irradiation, laser therapy, photochemotherapy, as well as various hardware blood purification methods.

3. Systemic therapy - more serious drugs belonging to the groups of monoclonal, cytostatic, hepatoprotective, enterosorbent and antihistamines are used.

In addition, spa treatment is actively recommended. An equally important point is the prevention of psoriasis.

Prevention of psoriasis

If you have been diagnosed with psoriasis, then, first of all, do not self-medicate. This is very dangerous and can have very serious consequences.

The second point to keep in mind is to regularly monitor the condition of your skin. Try not to scratch the itchy skin. Especially during the regression period.

Protect yourself from colds by all means. Any cold can weaken the immune system, which negatively affects the course of psoriasis.

Your diet should be balanced. It is necessary to exclude sweets, spicy foods, as well as foods that contain large amounts of preservatives and other harmful substances from the diet. In no case should you drink alcohol.

Lead a healthy lifestyle and exercise regularly. Try to stay as little as possible in the sun, as the burns only aggravate an already difficult disease.

Remember that it is easier to cure the first stage of the disease. It will be even more difficult.

Conclusion

We hope the material will help you identify your psoriasis symptoms in time. In addition, you will know what to look for to ease your suffering.