Psoriasis is primarily an inherited inflammatory skin disease. While in principle first lesions can occur at any age the disease usually starts in the second or sixth decade of life. Psoriasis has a chronic recurrent course. It is one of the most common skin diseases and affects about 2% of the population.

Trigger factors

Several trigger factors can provoke a breakout of the disease or prevent existing lesions from healing. These include the consumption of alcohol, the intake of medication (e.g. beta blocker) and the occurrence of infections (e.g. tonsillitis).

Symptoms

A typical psoriasis lesion is a red and scaly plaque which is sharply marked off from the surrounding healthy skin. Predilection sides are the knees, the elbows, the scalp and the tailbone region. The nails are also frequently affected in form of pinhead sized depressions in the nail plate, yellowish discoloration of nail areas or a crumbly dissolution of the nail substance. Further subtypes of psoriasis involve the development of pustules or the affections of joints.

Therapy

While a complete cure of the disease is not possible yet effective therapy regimes leading to a healing of the skin lesions or a prevention of further outbreaks exist. Depending on the severity of the skin affection the physician will recommend different treatment regimes. However, the basis of every therapy should be a regular application of urea (i) enriched skin care products. Due to a keratolytic effect it improves the scaling of the skin. Furthermore, as a natural moisturizing factor it provides the skin with a sufficient amount of moisture. Thus the application frequency of medically prescribed creams comprising the risk of side effects like skin atrophy can be reduced. To prolong the symptom-free interval between the episodes skin care products should also be applied continuously when the skin does not show any affection. For it is well known that dryness of the skin can provoke new skin lesions.