Eczema

Skin Eczema picture

Skin symptoms include redness, dryness, flaking, blistering, cracking and itching.

Dermatitis

Dermatitis picture

Dermatitis is an inflammation of the skin commonly through contact with an allergen or substance.

Dry Itchy Skin

Dry Itchy Skin

Dry and itchy skin often appears randomly and unexplained and it's dryness that often causes the itching.

Psoriasis

Psoriasis picture

Variants of Psoriasis include plaque, pustular, guttate and flexural psoriasis.

What Causes Psoriasis

. Posted in Psoriasis

What causes psoriasis?

Psoriasis is not contagious. You cannot get psoriasis from touching someone who has psoriasis, swimming in the same pool, or even intimate contact. Psoriasis is much more complex.

So complex, in fact, scientists are still studying what happens when psoriasis develops. We know that the person’s immune system and genes play key roles. In studying the immune system, scientists discovered that when a person has psoriasis, the T cells (a type of white blood cell that fights unwanted invaders such as bacteria and viruses) mistakenly trigger a reaction in the skin cells. This is why you may hear psoriasis referred to as a “T cell-mediated disease.”

This reaction activates a series of events, causing new skin cells to form in days rather than weeks. The reason T cells trigger this reaction seems to lie in our DNA. People who develop psoriasis inherit genes that cause psoriasis. Unlike some autoimmune conditions, it appears that many genes are involved in psoriasis.

Scientists are still trying to identify all of the genes involved. One of the genes that has been identified is called PSORS1 (SORE-ESS-1). This is one of several genes that regulates how the immune system fights infection.

Scientists also have learned that not everyone who inherits genes for psoriasis gets psoriasis. For psoriasis to appear, it seems that a person must inherit the “right” mix of genes and be exposed to a trigger. Some common triggers are a stressful life event, skin injury, and having strep throat. Many people say that that their psoriasis first appeared after experiencing one of these. Triggers are not universal. What triggers psoriasis in one person may not cause psoriasis to develop in another.