A skin condition is something very serious and makes you alert. When such a condition runs in a family, a red, scaly spot on the skin of a family member may indicate psychoriasis. A number of new treatment options have been added in recent years. When a dermatologist succeeds in making the psychoriasis spots disappear, this often leads to a turnaround in the patient’s life.
Psoriasis
It is best to go to the doctor if you have a spot on your skin that you are wondering what it is. The GP can treat many conditions himself. If these treatments do not help, this doctor can refer you to a dermatologist or skin doctor. Especially if psoriasis runs in the family, it is quite possible that a red, scaly spot on the skin of one of the family members is psoriasis. The condition is hereditary. You either have a talent for it or you don’t. If you are predisposed, psoriasis can be triggered by:
- an infection;
- certain medicines;
- stress.
Incurable
Result of psoriasis
With psoriasis, the skin produces at least ten times as many new skin cells as normal. This is because white blood cells enter the skin, which encourage the body to produce extra skin cells. Some forms of psoriasis go away on their own, but most do not. Recently, new options have emerged to treat psoriasis. A dermatologist who specializes in this skin condition is well aware of this.
The different treatment options
Of course, it is impossible to predict which medicine will work well for someone.
- Because ointment is the least invasive, the dermatologist will always first try whether an ointment helps;
- If that treatment does not work, you can switch to lighting. The patient then goes into an exposure booth in the hospital a few times a week;
- If that does not help, tablets that reduce the excessive production of new skin cells can be prescribed. These tablets often have the side effect of making the patient feel nauseous, especially in the first period of swallowing;
- If the tablets do not work well, there are biologicals.
Biologicals
These are particularly good remedies that can be used to tackle psoriasis even more specifically. However, biologicals are very expensive and are only reimbursed by health insurers if tablets do not work well for someone. There are several of these remedies, namely:
- agents that can be injected. This can also happen at home. With one drug, a nurse visits the home and with the other, the patient can choose whether a nurse comes by or whether he/she injects himself. Many patients dread injecting themselves. However, people with diabetes or diabetes also do it themselves. You only have to inject a new drug every three months. Other remedies every week or every two weeks;
- there is a biological for which the patient has to go to the hospital every three months because it has to be administered through an infusion.
Treatment ensures that the patient no longer suffers, but it only combats the symptoms of this skin condition. Psoriasis cannot be cured, someone will always have a predisposition to it.
Visual attitude
Many dermatologists (skin doctors) are particularly visual. A dermatologist is more likely to pay attention to shapes and is often keen to see deviations in the normal pattern of the skin. Everywhere – whether on the beach or at the checkout of a supermarket – a dermatologist is always quicker than other people to notice whether someone has a skin disease. Skin doctors generally take everyone seriously, although there are also people among his patients who are not bothered by the fact that they have psoriasis patches on almost their entire skin (two square meters). On the other hand, there are patients who live in social isolation, because they have a number of such places.
Self image
A skin condition can strongly affect a person’s self-image. In addition to the fact that the patient may suffer from itching and pain, the outside world often thinks that psoriasis is contagious. If a patient is already not feeling well and notices that someone else refuses to shake his or her hand, then that person feels like a leper. Psoriasis patients face this and similar things every day. There are people who no longer dare to leave the house.
Dermatological diagnosis
When someone comes to the dermatologist with spots on the skin, those spots can indicate a hundred different conditions. With numerous clues (both given by his patient and from elsewhere), the dermatologist tries to find a solution to his patient’s problem. Eczema and fungal infections are common. People are sometimes afraid that it could be skin cancer, but fortunately that is less common. The attitude of a dermatologist is to achieve the optimum with the treatment. If that fails, help is often called in from an expert from another hospital. If that does not help, the patient often receives guidance from the clinical psychologist, who provides him or her with tools to live with the condition as best as possible.
The recovery
Many dermatologists love it when they manage to make the spots disappear. It is often a turning point in the patient’s life, who immediately flourishes again. He or she looks good again and receives compliments. The patient dares to go outside again and make contact.