Blogs
Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis
Psoriasis is a chronic (long term) medical condition that causes red, often itchy and scaly patches on skin. Most commonly, psoriasis can be seen on knees, elbows, feet and scalp. Psoriasis is believed to be an auto-immune condition that can go on for weeks or months and then subsiding or going away. There is no known cure to this problem except that medicines are available to control the symptoms.
Psoriasis Arthritis is a double whammy condition wherein psoriasis strikes people already suffering from arthritis. Arthritis is a clinical condition where a person has swollen and sore joints.
Are Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis linked? As per a study done in the USA, 30% of people suffering from psoriasis also developed psoriatic arthritis that was mild, moderate or severe depending on the individual. Joint pains, stiffness of joints and swelling are the main symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. Similar to psoriasis, there exists no cure for psoriatic arthritis. Medicines are available only to control the symptoms and to prevent the damage to the joints. If left untreated, psoriasis arthritis can cause disabilities.
What are the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis?
Both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis get worse with time but during this course, there may be some periods when the symptoms subside to nearly none stage and then they may return and get worse. Psoriatic arthritis can affect joints only on one side of the body. Symptoms of psoriatic arthritis can resemble those of rheumatoid arthritis. (Both of them cause joints to swell and become painful).
General symptoms of psoriatic arthritis include:
- Swollen, painful joints on one side or both sides of the body.
- Swollen fingers and toes
- Painful muscles
- Morning Stiffness
- Scaly, itchy skin patches that can become worse when combined with joint pains.
- Separation of nails from finger tips
- Pain and redness in the eyes.
- If the joint pain and swelling takes place in spine, it can cause spinal pain and stiffness.
Types of psoriatic arthritis
There are mainly 5 types of psoriatic arthritis:
- Symmetric psoriatic arthritis – Same joints on both sides of the body have symptoms. For instance, both right and left elbow will be swollen or become stiff etc. In this case, the symptoms are mild and joint deformity caused will be lesser.
- Asymmetric psoriatic arthritis – Pain and swelling of joints takes place only on one side of the body. This is a more painful condition compared to symmetric psoriatic arthritis. It affects about 35% of the people suffering from psoriatic arthritis.
- Distal Interphalangeal Predominant psoriatic arthritis – This affects the distal joints. Distal joints are those that are closer to the nails. This affects 10% of people suffering from psoriatic arthritis.
- Spondylitis psoriatic arthritis – This affects the spine. Entire spine from neck to the lower back may be affected making movement super painful. This may affect hands, legs, arms, hips also.
- Psoriatic arthritis mutilans – This is a very severe condition forming deformities in the affected people. Contributes about 5% of cases.
What causes psoriatic arthritis?
Simple and short – the exact cause of psoriatic arthritis is unknown. Experts believe that when the immune system attacks joints and skin, can lead to psoriatic arthritis. They also believe that genetics and environment also play a causative role. Psoriatic arthritis is found to be hereditary in 40% of the cases. External viral infections, extreme stress or an injury can also lead to psoriatic arthritis.
Treatment of psoriatic arthritis
The root cause of the problem of psoriatic arthritis is not known, so is the cure. The varieties of treatment methods that are available today are to improve the symptoms and avoid damage to joints in the body. Following are some of the treatment options of psoriatic arthritis; we will not get into the details of it for now.
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
- Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDs)
- Biologics
- Steroids
- Immunosuppressants
- Topical Treatments
- Light therapy and other medications.
Summary:
30% of the people suffering from psoriasis are at risk of getting psoriatic arthritis. Remember that there is no cure for either of the medical conditions and only the symptoms can be relieved as of today. Some natural treatment options may exist in ayurveda or homeopathy that claim to treat psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis but they are not researched thoroughly by modern science. If you see skin scaling on any part of your body, talk to your physician first and then to a specialist.