Treatments for plaque psoriasis

Plaque psoriasis is a non-contagious, autoimmune condition of the skin. It causes inflammatory responses that affect the life cycle of skin, thus influencing the dysfunction of the immune system and causing systemic inflammation. Although the exact cause of plaque psoriasis is still not ascertained, this condition is primarily be attributed to genetic inheritance interplay with environmental factors. An environmental factor could either be in the form of a common viral or bacterial infection or a small injury. It is often characterized with symptoms like itchy skin with plaques of elevated, scaling and inflamed skin usually found on the scalp, elbows and knees. Psoriasis may affect people of all genders, for people of all ethnicities and races. With 2%-3% of the population of the United States being affected with plaque psoriasis, it is relatively common among those aged between 15 and 35 years.

While most physicians will be helpful in giving suggestions to minimize the exacerbations of the skin condition, dermatologists will be able to diagnose and confirm the suitable remedy for treatment of plaque psoriasis. However, all these treatments will help only to lessen by controlling and not permanently cure the condition. Depending on the severity of the plaque psoriasis, the treatment ranges from a variety of options that are listed below. These treatments may be used individually or in combination with other treatments depending on the doctor’s advice.

1. Topical treatments: These are often used as immediate action for managing the skin ailment with creams and ointments that are directly applied to the skin to reduce the inflammation and cut the speed at which the skin cell grows. These topical agents are generally available either through prescription or over the counter and help in soothing the skin and its protection from infection. These medicines, as mentioned below, may or may not contain steroids:
2. Corticosteroids of various degrees of potency are available in the form of creams and lotions, Anthralin, Tazarotene, triamcinoloneacetonide (Kenalog), fluocinonide (Vanos), mometasone (Elocon), alclometasone (Aclovate), desonide (Desonate), betamethasone (Luxiq), flurandrenolide (Cordran Tape, Cordran SP, and Cordran), and halcinonide (Halog, Halog-E).
3. Coal tar containing topical and Vitamin analogues or vitamin D-like molecules (calcipotriol [Taclonex] / calcipotriene [Dovonex]).
4. Topical retinoids, salicylic acid and moisturizers among the others.
5. Systemic treatment: This plaque psoriasis remedy is used for treatment of people with moderate to severe skin condition whose system is not responsive to any other forms of medication. These medicines are prescription drugs that may be consumed orally or used through injections or infusions that affect the whole body. These are of two types:
6. Biologics: This involves a selective and immunologically directed intervention which inhibits the initial cytokine release and avoids migration of Langerhans cells; eliminates pathologic T-cells and prevents further activation of T-cell; blocks interactions leading to T-cell activation and inhibits pro-inflammatory cytokines. These therapies include some variants of retinoid, methotrexate and other drugs which help in altering the immune system. Apart from these, there are newer and expensive drugs like ixekizumab (Taltz), secukinumab (Cosentyx), ustekinumab (Stelara), infliximab(Remicade), adalimumab (Humira), and etanercept (Enbrel) available in the market that are said to be more targeted biologics and produced using latest technologies which are required to be synthesized by living cells. These are protein drugs that are required to be either injected into the patient’s hypodermic tissue or infused intravenously at medical facilities at various intervals of the treatment period.
7. Traditional systemic treatment: This plaque psoriasis remedy is most commonly considered for patients who have a very active psoriatic arthritis or for those whose disease is disabling them physically, psychologically or socially. These therapies include cyclosporine (Gengraf, Neoral, Sandimmune) therapy for flares that are severe and acitretin (Soriatane, a vitamin A-like medicine) for short-term medication. Apremilast (Otezla) is a new drug that is consumed orally and believed to work well for moderate to mild form of psoriasis. As these systemics are said to be precise in their targets of blocking the inflamed pathway, they are trusted to be very safe and have improved effectiveness over most of the other immunosuppressive drugs.
8. Phototherapy/light therapy: Natural or artificial light is used in this method of plaque psoriasis treatment. This involves exposing the skin to various ranges of light amounts under medical supervision. It can be either a regular small amount of sunlight in 10 minutes sessions, exposure to regulated ultraviolet light from an artificial source or laser therapy is some cases. Phototherapy involves exposing the skin to ultraviolet light on a regular basis and under medical supervision. There are two forms of phototherapy namely:
9. Ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation – This is usually used in combination with one or more topical treatments for plaque psoriasis.
10. Psoralen plus ultraviolet A irradiation (PUVA) – This involves the use of a photosensitizing drug called methoxsalen (8-methoxypsoralen) in combination with UVA irradiation.
11. Lifestyle changes: This a chronic health condition related to the skin can be often related to some environmental or psychological stress that impacts the activity of the disease in patients already suffering from it. Hence, certain lifestyle changes like taking daily baths, usage of colloidal oatmeal, avoiding extreme temperatures, weight loss, avoiding consumption of alcohol and tobacco, stress management, usage of gentle moisturizer can help patients suffering from plaque psoriasis for management and treatment their condition.