Psoriasis Awareness Month 2023:
Every year, August is marked as Psoriasis Awareness Month.
- Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune condition that causes the rapid buildup of skin cells. This buildup of cells causes scaling on your skin’s surface.
- It causes a rash with itchy, scaly patches, most commonly on the knees, elbows, trunk and scalp.
- It is a common, long-term (chronic) disease with no cure.
- It can be painful, interfere with sleep and make it hard to concentrate.
- The condition tends to go through cycles, flaring for a few weeks or months, then subsiding for a while.
- It is not contagious.
- An over-reactive immune system that creates inflammation in your skin causes psoriasis.
- If one have psoriasis, your immune system is supposed to destroy foreign invaders, like bacteria, to keep you healthy and prevent you from getting sick. Instead, your immune system can mistake healthy cells for foreign invaders.
- As a result, your immune system creates inflammation or swelling, which you see on the surface of your skin as skin plaques.
- Common signs and symptoms of psoriasis include:
- raised, inflamed patches of skin that appear red on light skin and brown or purple on dark skin;
