This study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine suggests that men with psoriasis have fewer female oral sexual partners, and dermatologists need to examine the genital region routinely.

Quote:

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Introduction:
Epidemiologic data on sexual behavior in psoriasis patients are lacking.

Aim:
We aim to examine and compare the sexual behaviors between men with and without psoriasis in the United States.

Methods:
We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2003 to 2006 and 2009 to 2010. Responses from male participants to the dermatology and sexual behavior questionnaires of the NHANES were collated and analyzed.

Main Outcome Measures:
Outcome measures included sexual orientation, age of first sexual encounter, number of oral and non-oral sexual partners, and frequency of unprotected sex.

Results:
Among 6,444 U.S. men that responded to the psoriasis question, 170 (2.6%) reported a physician-given diagnosis of psoriasis. Heterosexual men accounted for 95.5% and nonheterosexual men 4.5% of the overall study population. On multivariate analysis, psoriasis was not associated with differences in sexual orientation (odds ratio 1.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.75–4.15). Heterosexual men with psoriasis experienced first sexual encounter at an earlier age than those without psoriasis (weighted difference −0.9 years, P = 0.002). Heterosexual men with psoriasis had significantly fewer female oral sexual partners compared with heterosexual men without psoriasis on multivariate analysis (lifetime partner number: rate ratio [RR] 0.65, 95% CI 0.45–0.95; past-year partner number: RR 0.64, 95% CI 0.42–0.97). No significant differences existed between heterosexual men with and without psoriasis regarding frequency of unprotected sex (RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.85–1.09). Among nonheterosexual men with and without psoriasis, no significant differences existed in age first had sex, number of sexual partners, or frequency of unprotected sex.

Conclusion:
Heterosexual men with psoriasis have significantly fewer lifetime female oral sexual partners compared with those without psoriasis. Dermatologists and other healthcare providers need to examine the genital region routinely and initiate appropriate therapy to improve patients' sexual health.

don't laugh but banana peels also work...they can reduce inflammation and restore the skin back to its normal condition..  

Hi everyone and good evening afternoon or good morning wherever you are!

I have stopped using exorex for now as my guttate is healing really well and has gone from legs and nearly gone from my tummy. I am starting to feel a lot more happy with my skin now, hurray!

I also have a great tan from all the UK sunshine we have been having and it has faded my spots even more.

I am now still moisturising my skin, taking salt baths and have started using Aveeno cream which is just gorgeous on my skin, no perfume. It is packed with oats and leaves my skin extra soft, wonderful! I love this cream, it is quite expensive but i have heard you can get this on prescription if you need to!

Anyone else use Aveeno and love it too?

xx

Hi everyone! I'm *****. It's good to be here.

I was just diagnosed 13 months ago with having Palmoplantar Pustulosis, or PPP. It's a form of Pustular Psoriasis which affects the palms of the hands and soles/sides of the feet. I have just recently gone into remission after being drastically affected for a year straight. It made it hard to even open or close my hands, or do something simple like walking. I never thought I would be dealing with something like this. There is no family history and before PPP, I was perfectly healthy - worked out two times per day, ate all organic, and had quit smoking a year prior.

After extensive research, I believe smoking played a huge role in my PPP.

I write for Yahoo! and have written two articles pertaining to my Psoriasis and how it affected my life. Maybe you could have a look at them, and hopefully they might inspire you to not give up and never lose hope.

(See my profile for my article links; unfortunately it won't let me post them in here)


If you have any questions or would like to tell me your story, or even just have someone to listen or be a shoulder, I'm here. I don't want anyone to suffer alone like I had.

Be blessed everyone, and have a WONDERFUL week. It's good to be here.

Hi all,
Just joined. I have had P for over 20 years, started in early 20's,and over time it's gradually got worse. Been on acritein (or however it is spelt) for 7 months and so far really good, no serious side effects although need to use sun block to stop getting burnt. Interested to hear from anyone who has been on it for a long time as the doctor says I can stay on it forever?
Thanks
John

Hello,
I have just under 780 Fumaderm pills, which I brought back from Germany in May, 2013. I tried the pills for a little over 3 weeks but they didn't agree with me.

Greetings all! I was a member about six to seven years ago and got a lot of great advice. I am hoping I can get a little more now that I am back online for the duration.

I have had P since I was five years old and am now 48. Different spots and different coverage's, but always between 25% and 80% coverage. I am taking Stelara now, courtesy of my derm.

Ive tried about everything and this is the only treatment that remotely helps exception being baby oil for flare ups and sudden itchiness.

I wish everyone pink healthy skin, affordable treatment and hopefully find an actual cure for this/these horrible affliction(s) we have.

Hello everyone!

Just wondering if anyone is or has taken any vitamins to help their skin. I was taking vitamin e and vitamin d tablets, don't know if they made any difference!

Did anyone notice any change in their skin?

I have cut the vitamin e capsules open and applied them directly to the guttate spots but it didn't seem to be doing anything, has anyone else tried this and had good results?

Thank you and hope the sun is shining where you are

xx

Background:
Previous investigations have demonstrated that a combination of (Enbrel) etanercept (ETN) and narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) phototherapy is more effective than ETN alone. However, it is unclear if this combination is more effective than NB-UVB phototherapy alone.

Objectives:
To evaluate whether the combination of NB-UVB phototherapy with ETN improves the efficacy of ETN alone in the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis.

Methods:
We enrolled 322 consecutive patients with moderate-to-severe plaque-type psoriasis, who were treated with NB-UVB phototherapy as the first-line treatment option. Patients who did not achieve a 75% improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 75) were treated with conventional systemic therapies for psoriasis. If they were ineligible for these, they were treated with ETN 50 mg twice weekly. If they did not achieve PASI 75 within 12 weeks, NB-UVB phototherapy was added.

Results:
PASI 75 was achieved in 262 patients (81·4%) treated with NB-UVB phototherapy. Sixteen patients (5·0%) dropped out for personal reasons and 24 (7·5%) were treated with at least one of the conventional systemic treatments for psoriasis. Twenty patients (6·2%) were treated with ETN. The combination regimen was needed in eight patients (2·5%) with poor response to both phototherapy and ETN alone. All of these patients achieved PASI 75 and three of them had a complete remission after 14·6 ± 3·3 NB-UVB exposures. The combined treatment was well tolerated without acute adverse events. Unfortunately, all of these patients relapsed, with PASI > 10 within 2·8 ± 1·7 months.

Conclusions:
The combined treatment has a synergistic effect for clearing plaque-type psoriasis previously unresponsive to ETN and NB-UVB phototherapy alone. The clearance rate is very high in a very short time without short-term adverse effects. However, concerns regarding potential cocarcinogenicity remain. Therefore the number of patients who require, and could benefit from, the combined treatment is likely to be small.

Source: NO LINKS ALLOWED

Enbrel etanercept

Background:
Pathomechanisms of both psoriasis and atherosclerosis may involve platelet activation. Activated platelets show increased P-selectin; CD62 expression, and mean platelet volume (MPV). Impaired brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) is related to atherosclerosis.

Objectives:
To determine the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with psoriasis (without overt cardiovascular complications or traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors), compared with controls.

Methods:
In this case–control study, 25 patients with psoriasis and 25 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals were subjected to assessment of MPV, CD62 expression using flow cytometry, and brachial artery FMD and transthoracic echocardiography by cardiac ultrasound scanner.

Results:
A statistically highly significant increased CD62 expression, but not MPV, was found in cases compared with controls, and in patients with moderate/severe psoriasis compared with either mild cases or controls (P < 0·001). CD62 expression was statistically significantly positively correlated with the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score (P < 0·001), baseline brachial artery diameter (P = 0·03) but not FMD and aortic root diameter (ARD; P = 0·03). ARD was statistically significantly higher in patients with moderate/severe psoriasis compared with controls (P = 0·017). Stepwise simple linear regression analysis revealed that PASI score was the most important factor affecting CD62 expression (P < 0·001).

Conclusions:
Our study showed increased atherosclerosis risk in patients with psoriasis, particularly those with moderate/severe disease, as evidenced by increased expression of platelet CD62 compared with healthy controls. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between CD62 expression and ARD (another possible marker of atherosclerosis), with positive correlation to the PASI score; the most important factor influencing CD62 expression. However, our data on MPV and FMD do not support the use of either value for diagnosing subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with psoriasis in further studies.

Source: NO LINKS ALLOWED

*Atherosclerosis (also known as arteriosclerotic vascular disease or ASVD) is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol and triglyceride.

Here is a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology which suggests that psoriasis is due to a breakdown of immune tolerance to the microbiota of the skin.

Quote:

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There is a known association between psoriasis and Crohn disease (CD). Patients with CD are five times more likely to develop psoriasis, and, conversely, patients with psoriasis are more likely to develop CD.

Many gastroenterologists now accept that CD results from a breakdown of immune tolerance to the microbiota of the intestine in genetically susceptible individuals. The microbiota of the skin have recently been investigated in psoriasis.

Firmicutes was the most common phylum, and Streptococcus the most common genus identified. Beta-haemolytic streptococci have been implicated in both guttate and chronic plaque psoriasis. Furthermore, the innate immune system has been shown to be activated in psoriasis, and many of the genes associated with the disease are concerned with the signalling pathways of the innate immune system, notably interleukin-23 and nuclear factor κB.

Patients with psoriasis also have an increased incidence of periodontitis, a disease thought to be due to an abnormal response to normal oral commensals.

Based on the similarities between CD and psoriasis, we propose that psoriasis is due to a breakdown of immune tolerance to the microbiota of the skin. In support of this hypothesis we provide evidence for microbiota in the skin, activation of the innate immune system, and genetic abnormalities involving the innate immune system.

Hi my name is angus,i have just been diagnosed at age 38.My father had this and i rather hoped in it skipping a generation but now i have it too.

Hello everyone!


I was wondering if anyone knows if working out alot makes psoriasis worse?
I try exercise and everytime I do my psoriasis tend to flare up and become all red, but then later it just goes back to normal psoriasis and not that very red. But I was just wondering if it worsens the condition or is it just in my head?

For a couple of years I have been switching between dovobet and silkis (calcitriol) for my skin but after returning from my adventure Stateside I had to get a new prescription (my luggage went on an adventure of it's own - with all my creams/ointments in it) and was surprised to discover that my pharmacist had given me dovobet gel....

I had no idea there was a gel.... It comes in a really handy bottle that enables you to apply small drops to the affected area, and it is so much less greasy than the ointment I had been using before.

So far I have found it appears to be more effective in clearing my skin, perhaps because it is more readily absorbed into the skin.

Has anyone else used it? If so, what are your opinions?

Krissie

Hi everyone and good afternoon evening wherever you are!

Went to the doctors last week and asked for exorex lotion as I had heard it was very good for clearing up guttate psoriasis! It has cleared across my chest nearly gone from arms, legs are starting to look more sunburnt now, which is how my chest looked before it eventually went away! tummy is looking much better too and more sunburnt also.

Has anyone used the lotion? I quite like it although it can't be used if you are planning on going out into the sunshine because it contains real coal tar! It smells okay too and is quite a thin lotion and pleasant to use.

anyone else had good results using exorex. It is really expensive too if you can't get it on prescription.

Thank you all

Have a great afternoon evening

xx

Novartis announced today top-line results from the head-to-head Phase III psoriasis study which showed the superiority of secukinumab (AIN457) in clearing skin to Enbrel®* (etanercept), an anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy. In addition, secukinumab (AIN457) met all primary and secondary endpoints.

The FIXTURE trial (the Full year Investigative eXamination of secukinumab vs. eTanercept Using 2 dosing Regimens to determine Efficacy in psoriasis) was a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, multicenter global study of subcutaneous secukinumab (AIN457) in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis involving 1,307 patients. It was designed to demonstrate efficacy after 12 weeks of treatment, compared to placebo and etanercept, and to assess the safety, tolerability and long-term efficacy up to 52 weeks. Established treatment measures were used to assess the efficacy of secukinumab (AIN457) including PASI 75 (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index 75) and the Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA mod 2011), a standard tool to assess the clearing of skin after treatment.

"These results showing that secukinumab (AIN457) is superior to Enbrel, a current standard-of-care therapy, are great news for people living with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis," said Tim Wright, Global Head of Development, Novartis Pharmaceuticals. "With 40-50% of people living with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis dissatisfied with their current therapies, there is clearly an unmet medical need for new therapies that act faster and longer to relieve pain, itching and other symptoms."

Full results from the secukinumab (AIN457) Phase III study program, the largest undertaken in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis to date, are expected to be presented at major medical congresses later this year.

Secukinumab (AIN457) is the first medicine selectively targeting IL-17A to present Phase III results. IL-17A is a central cytokine (messenger protein) in the development of psoriasis, and is found in high concentration in skin affected by the disease. Research shows that IL-17A plays a role in driving the body's autoimmune response in disorders such as moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and is a preferred target for investigational therapies.

In the FIXTURE study, the observed safety profile of secukinumab (AIN457) was consistent with previously reported results from Phase II studies in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and no new safety concerns were identified.

Source: NO LINKS ALLOWED

Hi I was just wondering how people cope with constant itchiness. I have had Psoriasis for 35 years on and off. But after having a clear spell of about 4 years. It has come back with avengance and I am struggling to cope with the itchiness all the time and i'm being really good putting on my creams but to no relief.

Hello
Im very new to this site so just wanted to post something.
I, also have guttat psoriasis and this is my first time actually talking/chatting/posting to anyone that have the same condition

Good evening all,
Having recently been diagnosed with Psoriasis at the age of 63 it came as quite a shock, never having had a skin complaint in my life before.
I am slowly coming to terms with it and hope to have it under control soon. Finges crossed.
No doubt there is a lot to learn about this problem hence my reason or joining this forum.
Hopefully lots of answers to my questions will be on the site somewhere once I have found my way around.
Thanks for reading my post and it won't be the last you hear from me.
Regards, Ed's Mom

Hi everyone and good morning

Has anyone used glycerin on their skin to treat their psoriasis? What is the best way to use it? Do you apply directly to your skin or mix it with lotion or something? Is it effective. I have guttate which is fading in some areas but have heard great things a bout glycerin.

Amazon seem to have a huge range of glycerin to buy, which one is the best?

Thank you

Hope you all have a nice day!

xx