Psoriasis of the scalp is a very annoying condition as is Psoriasis as a whole. Here is some general information about Psoriasis. This disease affects one in 50 people around the world. This disease is not contagious at all and you can’t “pass it on” or other people cannot catch it from you. Psoriasis can be very itchy, unsightly and highly distressing for sufferers of this disease. It affects mainly the limbs, joins and the scalp but it can also appear on the face. There are some very powerful medicines available that can help you to control the symptoms if they appear to be getting out of hand. Almost one quarter of all psoriasis suffers go on to develop psoriatic arthritis; however with psoriasis of the scalp you needed worry about this.
Psoriasis comes about because of a faulty signal in your immune system which causes you skin cells to regenerate too quickly. Instead of replacing themselves every 28-30 days they will regenerate in only 3-4 days. This causes the extra skin cells to build up on the surface and cause flaky, scaley lesions that are itchy and that can become very painful and bleed. For people who suffer this condition it can even occur on the face which can be very disheartening for sufferers. While there are specific places on the body where it is more common, it can occur anywhere on the body, including psoriasis of the scalp.
This disease comes in many different forms and doctors will categorize it as either moderate, mild or severe depending on the scaliness, redness and the amount of body surface that is affected. Up to 125 million people worldwide are affected by this and it often appears to those in the 15-35 year old age bracket.
About half of psoriasis sufferers have scalp psoriasis which is a plaque type of psoriasis. This makes it quite difficult to treat psoriasis of the sclap because of the thickness of the scales.
No one is sure why people suffer from psoriasis but it is thought to be genetic although mental problems, infections and skin trauma have been known to bring on a bout of psoriasis.
