Is Psoriasis Contagious?

Psoriasis contagious or not contagious? This is one of the questions which is most commonly asked whenever anyone falls victim to this most irritating and difficult of skin diseases. While the majority of psoriasis remains a mystery, this question can at least be answered in a definitive way.

No, whatever else psoriasis is, it is at least not contagious and cannot be easily passed from one person to another. It is true that there are greater incidences of the disease within families, so there is inevitably a hereditary element to it somewhere, but it is definitely not contagious. If you are in the situation of needing to deal with this condition, either for yourself or a member of your family, it will be important to separate the fact from the fiction before you start. Asking “Is psoriasis contagious?”, is only the first step in finding the truth about a condition which needs careful treatment. The answer is a definite “no”, so there is no need to worry on that score. Psoriasis is a skin disease which is caused directly by a malfunction of the immune system, although science can still not determine what causes the immune system to behave in this way.

The different types of psoriasis are all caused by the same fundamental factor within the immune system and the human body, and none of these types are contagious. The most common type of psoriasis is plaque psoriasis, which accounts for four out of every five cases. Even some of the cases which are not initially plaque psoriasis will develop into it, as can often be seen with teenage guttate psoriasis. If the patient is lucky, this condition can actually disappear, but if not it can turn into the more serious variety.

Because psoriasis is not contagious, there is no reason not to freely mix with other people, although you will obviously want to hide any unsightly blemishes as far as you can. Living as normal life as possible while you are undergoing psoriasis attacks is not easy, but it can be done. It is really as case of making sure that you eliminate as many of the risk factors as possible, which can cause an attack. If you do this, you can be sure of reducing attacks to the lowest possible number. When they do occur, you will need to be able to react quickly with the right skin treatments.

As there are those who consider psoriasis contagious, even though it plainly isn't, it is best to hide the condition as far as possible. Avoiding competitive sport and any other situation where is the likelihood of a skin injury is also essential because that it one of the most obvious trigger factors for a psoriasis attack. The skin can be treated from both the outside and the inside, and this is the obvious thing to do. The timings of the treatments, and the reasons for them, are slightly different. If you have an attack, you can treat it externally immediately and experience some relief.

Internal treatments, especially if they involve drugs, will take far longer to be effective, so you really need to be able to follow them consistently whether or not an attack is currently taking place. The internal management of psoriasis is a long term strategy, and will work best if it starts with he elimination of risk factors. These risk factors include anything which puts a pressure on the human immune system, such as tobacco smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and eating food which is over rich in saturated fat or refined sugar.

Although the psoriasis contagious rumor is nothing more than that, it will still pay you to be selective in who you tell about the condition. If it is relatively mild, and occurs in places where it is covered by clothing, there is no reason to reveal it. If you can maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle to prevent the onset of excessive numbers of attacks, you can manage to live a normal life. You may need help with this, in the form of vitamins or drug treatments, and these will need to be administered consistently.

Those who consider psoriasis contagious should become better informed, because it is in their interest to understand exactly how the disease develops and how it needs to be treated. If you have optimized your lifestyle and diet to cope with the condition, and it is still flaring up too often, you can use internal treatments which work on the immune system. Steroids can be used in the short term and are usually effective. If they aren't, a physician will usually recommend that you undergo ultraviolet light treatment. This will help to reduce the symptoms, and help to make you less visible to those who consider psoriasis contagious.

Remedies For Psoriasis Can Relieve Symptoms

Remedies for psoriasis are only able to control the condition and ease the symptoms, as there is as yet no known cure for the disease. Psoriasis is a skin condition which can affect different parts of the body, and can spread and worsen if it is not treated. There are even some types of psoriasis which can turn into others if the symptoms don't clear up.

The condition is caused by the immune system not functioning as it should, but as of now we have no idea why this occurs. What we do know is that there are certain trigger factors which will make the condition worse, and these need to be avoided. In order for comprehensive psoriasis remedies to be developed, we would need to understand far more about how the disease develops than we actually do. There is clearly an element of genetics involved, as the percentage chances of someone developing psoriasis is far greater if there is already another sufferer in the family. It is known that the immune system is the direct cause of the difficulty, but until we can identify the cause which triggers it to believe that the skin is actually an invader, there is little hope of developing a cure.

The most important factor when dealing with psoriasis is to diagnose it correctly. There are other skin conditions which can produce similar symptoms for a short period of time, although it should be quickly possible for a trained physician to eliminate these relatively quickly. The main difficulty comes in making an accurate diagnosis as to which type of psoriasis the patient has. Many young patients fall victim to guttate psoriasis, which can only last for a short time. If it does not clear up quickly, it can worsen and become plaque psoriasis, which is the most common type.

There are no actual remedies for psoriasis which can cure the condition, the best which can be done is to stabilize it and reduce the symptoms. The first step in doing this is to make sure that there are no aggravating factors in your life which are making it worse. Try to avoid any situation where you could potentially suffer a skin injury, as this will definitely aggravate the psoriasis. If you are used to being out in strong sunlight, make sure that you protect yourself properly. It is still a good idea to let the skin get some air in a safe way.

The other risk factors which can trigger attacks are those which should really be avoided for any illness. If you don't have regular sleeping habits, or if you simply don't get enough time at rest, your body will be stressed and will not be able to function as it should. The immune system will be in a reduced state of effectiveness, making it more prone to react. Also, cigarette smoking puts a huge strain on the bodily systems, increases the heartbeat dramatically, and is a clear risk factor in psoriasis attack.

When you have removed all of the obvious dangers from your lifestyle, you can start to put into place a plan to manage your condition as well as you possibly can. If you can consistently eat a balanced diet, with plenty of water rich food and vitamins, you will be building up your body's resistance against further attacks. Try to cut down on the amounts of saturated fat, refined sugar and salt that you consume, as these are difficult for the body to digest and deal with. If you don't feel you are getting enough of the essential vitamins, you can always use supplements.

The most common remedies for psoriasis symptoms are vitamin treatments and also steroid drugs. The vitamins can be prescribed right at the onset of the condition, as there is no risk involved with using them. The steroids are a different matter, and they should really only be used when you have a condition serious enough to warrant this. They are effective, but they can only safely be used for a limited amount of time. Over-use can lead to the condition become even more aggravated than it was when the treatment was first applied.

The most promising remedies for psoriasis in the future are definitely the biologic drugs. Most of the drugs which are prescribed for psoriasis are far reaching, in that they affect the whole body. Organs which were previously healthy can easily become damaged if the drugs are used too heavily or for too long. Biologic drugs, on the other hand, target the immune system directly, making them far safer to use for longer periods of time. This development is currently in its infancy, but it offers the best hope we have yet seen that there will one day be safer remedies for psoriasis.

How Coal Tar Psoriasis Creams Give Quick Relief

Coal tar psoriasis creams can be used to treat skin psoriasis, either as the sole method of treatment or in conjunction with another type of treatment. For the best effect, all methods of treating psoriasis should be combined with a basically healthy lifestyle which reduces aggravating factors to the minimum, and which minimizes the stress on the human body.

This combined treatment is necessary, because although psoriasis is an external condition, its causes are internal. Science does not yet know how it happens, but psoriasis is fundamentally caused by a malfunction of the immune system. The skin, which is part of the body, is actually perceived as a threat. A similar phenomenon occurs with food allergies, when the immune system believes that a harmless food substance is actually a threat, and reacts accordingly. That is at least easier to understand, because the food substance is foreign to the body. With a psoriasis skin condition, the immune system is reacting against its own body. What is known is that there is a family factor in the equation somewhere, as people with psoriasis can often be found in the same family. If one of your parents or grandparents had psoriasis, you will be more likely to contract it.

The use of coal tar creams, or indeed any other external treatment, will be greatly enhanced if you can take the steps to improve your lifestyle and avoid anything which is likely to aggravate the conditions. The most important issue is to avoid anything which will aggravate the external part of the skin where the psoriasis usually shows. If yours is a psoriasis of the scalp, you will be especially vulnerable to any hot sun or extreme weather conditions. Make sure that any part of the body where psoriasis has occurred is given adequate protection from the sun.

This will make sure that the coal tar psoriasis cream you use only has to deal with the skin condition itself, and not the sunburn which can result from long periods of exposure to too much sun. Also avoid any situation where the skin could become injured, such as competitive sport played on a hard surface. Once these factors have been eliminated, you can begin to work on the all important internal factors which affect the chances of a psoriasis attack occurring. Try to avoid smoking, excessive drinking, and working too hard. Each of these will put the body under undue stress.

Using creams alone will never be as effective as an all round solution which involves all of the relevant factors. Make sure your diet is optimized for health. Cutting down on saturated fat will give your system a break from trying to cope with something which is really too rich for it. The trans fats which occur during certain types of food processing are even more difficult for the body to deal with, and they are also a known carcinogen. Also try of avoid excessive amounts of refined sugar and starch, and maximize your intake of fresh food.

Taking in regular amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables will give you an intake of all of the vitamins you need to keep the immune system functioning as effectively as possible, as well as stimulating the eliminatory system to detoxify the body. The vitamins which are taken in internally through fresh food can also be useful if they are used in creams. Vitamin A and vitamin D creams have proven effective in relieving the worst effects of psoriasis. These creams are really the main alternatives to coal tar, which also has proven effective in the long term management of the condition.

The coal tar psoriasis creams are often prescribed as a treatment for the temporary guttate psoriasis which can afflict young people who have been through a throat infection. This type of psoriasis is different from many others, in that it can often go into remission with no obvious reason or explanation. This is more likely to happen when the body has been looked after well, and stress has been kept to a minimum. If this does not happen, the guttate psoriasis can worsen and become permanent plaque psoriasis.

Using a coal tar psoriasis cream can increase the chance of the condition abating, but it can also be used against the plaque psoriasis should the condition worsen. These creams can obviously be used in conjunction with any internal treatments you may be prescribed, such as biologic drugs. These promise much for the future treatment of psoriasis, in that they are far safer and have fewer side effects. Most drug treatments need to be thought of as long term, as the effects are not often seen for weeks. You will normally be able to experience far quicker relief from the use of coal tar psoriasis.