I have wondered if the location of the exterior/skin psoriasis i.e. elbows, knees, fingers, toes etc. actually pinpoint/locate the area(s) of psoriatic/rheumatoid arthritis. Kind of a way for the immune system to notify us of impending or actual problem areas. Your comments please.

This is my perspective of my condition. The skin is the largest organ of the body. It mimics or reveals what is happening within. In other words, the skin tells what's within. I suffer from liver disease, enlarged spleen, enlarged heart, epstein bar, and arthritis. All affect the immune system. For over 35 years I have had pitted finger nails. Not one doctor had a diagnosis. Not until recently have I learned about psoriasis of the fingernails. Looking back I believe that my psoriatic condition had laid dormant in the early years only to raise it's ugly head in later years. I am now 56. The good, bad and the ugly is this: 1) The good: At least I know what I have. The clearer the target, the better the aim. The bad: 2) My immune system is compromised. In some ways just shot i.e. physically, mentally and emotionally. The ugly: 3) The obvious physical manifestation i.e. scaling, the red plague, chronic itching, insomnia
etc.

Positive Conclusion: 1) I know what I have 2) I know who my real friends are 3) I have increased empathy for others suffering from any autoimmune disease. 4) I have learned how to build up my immune system physically, mentally and emotionally.

Published in The British Journal of Dermatology this study looks at the effectiveness and safety of short-contact dithranol therapy in paediatric psoriasis.

Background:
Evidence on the effectiveness and safety of short-contact dithranol therapy in paediatric psoriasis is low and only based on retrospective data. Best results are achieved in a time consuming day-care setting.

Objectives:
To prospectively study the effectiveness and safety of short-contact dithranol therapy in paediatric psoriasis. In addition, the effectiveness, safety, duration of treatment and number of visits between regular day-care and day-care with telemedicine were compared.

Methods:
Data were collected from the prospective observational Child-CAPTURE registry of children with psoriasis. Effectiveness was analyzed by mean percentage improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Safety was assessed by recording adverse events. Number of visits and duration of treatment were reported.

Results:
For all patients a mean percentage reduction in PASI score of -69.3% was found, with no significant differences between regular day-care and day-care with telemedicine. The only adverse event reported was irritation of the skin. Both the frequency of irritation during treatment as well as the mean duration of treatment did not significantly differ between the two groups. Patients with telemedicine had significant less number of visits

Conclusion:
This first prospective observational study demonstrated that short-contact dithranol therapy in paediatric psoriasis is effective and safe. Regular day-care and day-care with telemedicine are both equally effective. Telemedicine can be of additional value as it is less time consuming. Hopefully, it will therefore make dithranol treatment appropriate for a larger group of children with psoriasis.

Source: NO LINKS ALLOWED

Is there a connection between Psoriasis and Multiple Sclerosis? I realize that psoriasis is an autoimmune system malfunction. In addition to the plaque psoriasis with it's ugly exterior, itching etc. I suffer from restless leg syndrome along with a tingling, needles/pins sensation. Chronic insomnia for sure.

My question: any connection to multiple sclerosis?

Thanks

Hi being a newbe here I thaught I might tell you about my experencecwith P.
I was first dianosed about 12 years ago by the derm at the VV hosp in Little Rock . at first at was location I felt like a grease pig . Made such a mess the wife and I got twin beds .
so I started looking on line to see what other people were doing it seemed like everyonecwas serching just like me.
so we bought a jet bathtub and then the hours of soaking in eoson salt baths with joy dish soap.
so now I'm getting to be a geeneypig with a lot of different med's and creams even oat meal baths . Now theyvsaid they was put me on MTX and it seemed to help a little till it really messed up my lungs big time yes they had a name for it called medical fibrouis caused from be alergic to MTX .
wellthen I was putcin my handicap scooter and 24 hour oxagon .told mei had only about on year to live .. .. that sceared the heck out of the wife and me.
then they put me on enbedal which didn' seem to help.
now 12 year later I'm on humeria that seem to be my merceral drug . no side effects and 95% P.free.
well I'm out of the wheel chair and and only oxagen when I need mostly when I sleep . I thank the good Lord everyday for giving my life back .
now you know the rest of the story .

I'm on my 5 round of UVB and about a third of way through.

My skin has been changed so much after having my first baby 11 months ago, I'm struggling to hit 3 minutes without burning.

I prefer UVB over other treatments despite it takes such a long time and for me gives short lived results.

But I do worry that the burning I get then causes my psoriasis to come back worse.

Anyone else have UVB experiences?

I'm not too sure what kind of psoriasis I have. I get weird flare ups. Sometimes they're minor. (Red and white flaky) Other times they're red/yellow/ and when the stuff plagued on my neck falls off it's hard as a rock. Right now I have a very bad flare up. It's pussy and has hard yellow stuff falling off it and it hurts to move my neck. (I only have it on my scalp and on my neck.) My scalp seems to be the worst effected area and my neck is very minor. Would anyone recommend bag balm for this?

Hi
I'm new to this forum but a few of you might know me from other P.forums or maybe facebook .
The wife and I live in Greenbrier Arkansas and been married for 52 years . I love to restore old car and the wife makes dolls and has a page on facebook called
Sandy's Dollhouse .. .
I've had P. for over 10 years and been on all kinds of locations med's and now on Humeria for two years and 100% clear after a long battle with it.
I just want to say hi to my old friends and HOWDY to my new friends . drop by my facebook and visit . it under Danny Martin Greenbrier Ar.
a little later I will tell you about my experence with the lotions epson salt baths and my nightmare with the drug they call MTX .have a good night and thank you for excepting me .

hard to find your way around this forum plus the green back ground makes it hard to read if you bad eyes . sorry you might thank I gripe a lot but I just tell it like I see it Da nny

Hi, I'm a 23 y-o girl from London. Since certain time I face the problem of psoriasis. You guys don't know how glad am I that I've found this place. Hope it will help me and you!

Keep on fightin!

I live in the U.S. I was started on humira and found out it would 437.00 dollars a month. Then my doc wanted to start me on stellara. that would cost me 1800 dollars every 3 months. I really can't see spending every dime I got to control this psoriasis.now wants to put me on soritane and its also pricey and some really bad side effects. I guess what i'm saying is I don't know what to do. any advice out there would be appreciated

Hello everyone...I just found and joined your forum today. I hope that this website is active daily and that this thread just isn't. I just wanted to introduce myself, I am Shellie.

At net i found an interesting product. You do not have anyone experience with it? Name of product is PsoVitEx...

While doing some research, I found a nice write up about PsA...

Quote: PsA Q4: In patients with psoriatic arthritis, is there a difference between biologic monotherapy and combination biologic-nonbiologic therapy in terms of efficacy, effectiveness, safety, or tolerability?

Recent evidence suggests that methotrexate is not efficacious and is not a DMARD in PsA (3 RCTs).

There is insufficient evidence to determine the efficacy and safety of biologic-nonbiologic combination therapy relative to biologic monotherapy.

Hello, so im a 20 year old male that last December started having a little spot of dandruff in my eyebrow. Eventually it developed and i had dandruff at my hairline and very much of both my eyebrows/right above them. At the time i could just scrape it off and my face would be totally clean.

Then i started getting a rash around and underneath it, my skin was red and itchy and sometimes started to produce some form of liquid when i picked the flakes. It also spread to 2 small spots on either side of my nose and one directly on my nose right between the nostrils.

I haven't been to a dermatologist yet, because of horrific waiting lists. But i have been to 2 different doctors a few times, and now they both seem to think it is psoriasis while early on it was treated as sebborheic dermatitis.
Im just so lost and confused, im tired of it getting worse and worse every day and my doctor seems to not care at all.

I was prescribed something called Locoid, which is some clear liquid that burns when i apply it. First time i used it for about a week and it cleared my face completely, i was so happy (this was before they told me it could be psoriasis) but then it came back and now it seems the Locoid is barely working and my face just gets worse and worse.

I still have 2 months till i can see a dermatologist and my own doctor just tells me to apply the Locoid more than i have been. Im starting university in a week and i maybe im weak but i really can't stand the thought of going there with my face so disgusting. Anyone here had a similar start and had any luck with some form of treatment? I've also had alot of fungal infections in my armpits, and private area during the last few years if that could have any connection.

I have quick question I thought someone might be able to answer. I am vitamin B12/folic deficient (possible anemia). I was wondering if it’s a cause of PsA. Anyone have any ideas? I know that drugs such as MTX can cause this problem, but it’s been years since I took MTX. I am on Celebrex, which may also cause this issue, but my doctor told me it takes years to develop this with that drug.

Hi Everbody,

My name is Jamie, and I'm from the UK. I live on the most easterly point of England.

I'm new to this forum but one of the reasons I have joined is that I have Psoriasis on my face have done for say 8 years now. I'm looking for a way of managing it and wondered if any other males out there could give me some advice. The reason I say males is that it is really shaving which is the problem.

I went to the dead sea and got cleared. In some areas of my body the remission period lasted over a year but on my face it was literally back after 2 weeks. This I believe is due to shaving. Ok, Psoriasis is under the skin but by shaving we form a small injury thus allowing the psoriasis to reappear - the skin is always vulnerable especially there.

If anybody has any suggestions, advice or experiences I would be so pleased to hear from you.

I will be active on here posting various things and I look forward to hearing from you

Kind regards
Jamie

HLA-B is a human gene that provides instructions for making a protein that plays a critical role in the immune system. HLA-B is part of a family of genes called the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex. The HLA complex helps the immune system distinguish the body's own proteins from proteins made by foreign invaders such as viruses and bacteria.

This study published in The British Journal of Dermatology set out to clarify the association between psoriasis and HLA-B.

Quote:

---

Background:
Currently there is no consensus about the association between psoriasis and human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-B.

Objectives:
To clarify the association between psoriasis and HLA-B.

Methods:
Articles were selected, following predefined criteria, from case–control studies on the association between psoriasis and HLA-B published between 1 January 1972 and 11 November 2012, and included in the pub med and ISI Web of Knowledge databases.

Results:
Thirty-seven eligible articles covering 16 206 participants (14 644 white and 1562 Asian) were included. Sixty HLA-B alleles were reported, among which 26 were associated with susceptibility to disease, 24 were protective and 10 were unassociated. For unspecific psoriasis, there were three strongly susceptible alleles (OR ≥ 3·0) in white and four in Asian subjects, with HLA-B*57 and HLA-B*13 common to both races; there were four strongly protective (OR ≤ 0·3) alleles in white and seven in Asian subjects, with HLA-B*07 common to both. For psoriasis vulgaris, nine alleles were strongly associated with susceptibility in white subjects and five in Asians, with HLA-Bw*37 and HLA-B*57 in both; three alleles were strongly protective in white subjects and one in Asians, with none in common. Cases of psoriatic arthritis and guttate psoriasis were reported only in white subjects, with eight and seven strongly susceptible alleles, and two and three strongly protective alleles, respectively. Analyses of onset age showed that praecox patients with family history were significantly more susceptible to HLA-B*13 and HLA-B*57 than tardive ones.

Conclusions:
A significant association was identified between psoriasis and 50 HLA-B alleles. The association varied in terms of race, and clinical type and onset age of psoriasis.

Background:
Previous twin studies have shown greater concordance rates for psoriasis in MZ than in DZ twins, and heritability estimates between 66% and 90%. This supports a genetic influence on psoriasis, but also highlights the fact that genes are not the only explanation for the disease.

Objectives:
To study the concordance of psoriasis in a population-based twin sample.

Methods:
Data on psoriasis in 10 725 twin pairs, aged 20–71 years, from the Danish Twin Registry was collected via a questionnaire survey. The concordance and heritability of psoriasis were estimated.

Results:
In total, 4·1% of the men and 4·2% of the women had a lifetime history of psoriasis. The proband-wise concordance for psoriasis was larger in monozygotic than in dizygotic twins, 0·33 vs. 0·17. Genetic factors explained 68% (60–75%) of the variation in the susceptibility to psoriasis, whereas the rest of the variation was explained by nonshared environmental factors.

Conclusion:
The results confirm that psoriasis is a complex multifactorial disease controlled by both exogenous and endogenous factors.

Source: NO LINKS ALLOWED

Background:
Genetic predisposition to psoriasis, an inflammatory skin disease affecting 0·2–4% of the world population, is well established. Thus far, 41 psoriasis susceptibility loci reach genome-wide significance (P ≤ 5 × 10−8). Identification of genetic susceptibility loci in diverse populations will help understand the underlying biology of psoriasis susceptibility.

Objectives:
The primary objective of this study was to examine psoriasis susceptibility associations previously reported in Chinese and caucasian populations in a Pakistani cohort.

Methods:
Blood samples and phenotype data were collected from psoriasis cases and controls in Islamabad, Pakistan. DNA was isolated and genotypes of selected susceptibility markers were determined. The data were analysed using χ2 tests or logistic regression for psoriasis association.

Results:
HLA-Cw6 showed the strongest association [odds ratio (OR) 2·43, P = 2·3 × 10−12]. HLA-Cw1 showed marginally significant association (OR 1·66, P = 0·049), suggesting that the HLA-Cw1-B46 risk haplotype may be present in the Pakistani population. Three other loci (IL4/IL13, NOS2, TRAF3IP2) showed nominally significant association (P < 0·05).

Conclusions:
HLA-Cw6 is strongly associated with psoriasis susceptibility in the Pakistani population, as has been found in every other population studied. In addition, HLA-Cw1 showed marginal association, reflecting the relative geographical proximity and thus likely genetic relatedness to other populations in which the HLA-Cw1-B46 haplotype is known to be associated. A larger cohort and a denser marker set will be required for further analysis of psoriasis associations in the South Asian population.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com