More than 4.5 million adults suffer from psoriasis, a chronic condition that causes red, flaky patches of thickened skin. This uncontrollable overgrowth of skin cells can appear on the scalp, hands, feet and genitalia. But the lesions most commonly appear on the elbows, knees and lower back, which might give a hint as to why almost one third of psoriasis sufferers also have a compounding disease, psoriatic arthritis, which affects the joints and can be crippling.
Psoriatic arthritis, however, can be effectively treated in most patients if it is recognized early enough. Alan Menter, MD, chief of dermatology at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, Texas outlines this potentially disabling disease and the treatments available for it.
What is psoriatic arthritis?
Psoriatic arthritis is an inflammatory joint disease that is almost always associated with a skin disease called psoriasis. There are five different subtypes of the joint disease: anything from just a few swollen fingers and toes to more severe involvement of large joints to very disabling involvement where the hands and feet and the spine get pretty inflamed and chronically destroyed, actually. [It is mainly associated with a decrease in the range of motion, more so than pain.] So, it's a whole range from very minor disease to very severe disease, which can be disabling in about 20 percent of patients.
Copyright 2009 NBC Health
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