What is Scalp psoriasis?

Scalp psoriasis is a non infectious widespread skin condition that results in rapid skin cell regeneration causing red, dry flakes of thickened skin. The skin scales and dry flakes are known to come from the fast reproduction of skin cells. Psoriasis usually affects the skin of the scalp, knees and elbows.

Psoriasis is projected to affect approximately 1%-3% of the U.S. population. It is currently present in approximately 7.5 to 8.5 million people in the U.S. It is also present worldwide in roughly 125 million individuals. African Americans experience about half the rate of psoriasis as Caucasians.

There are some individuals that experience light scalp psoriasis (tiny, pale dry skin bits) which they don’t even know that they got such a inconvenient skin problem. While others are prone to very brutal form of psoriasis where almost entire body is completely layered with thick red and scaly skin.

Unfortunately for many psoriasis is regarded as a chronic and non-curable skin problem. Psoriasis shows up variably at times getting better and sometimes worsening. Other times psoriasis may go away for a long time and hide in remission. Some individuals experience aggravated symptoms during winter time while there are people that notice that their psoriasis get better in warmer times or climates with better sunlight contact.

Minimum half of all the individuals who are affected by psoriasis have it on their scalps.
Sometimes scalp psoriasis is mild, with light, fine scales. While at times it can also be very serious with thick, coated plaques affecting the entire scalp.
There are skin disorders, referred as seborrheic dermatitis, that may appear alike to psoriasis. However, to know the difference scalp psoriasis shows up powdery with a silvery sheen, while seborrheic dermatitis is greasy and yellowish.
Psoriasis is present worldwide and does not discriminate. It can affect any race and both genders. While psoriasis can be present in individuals of any age, starting with toddlers to seniors, most frequently patients are initially diagnosed in the beginning of their adult ages.

People with far more serious psoriasis can be subjected to emotional distress, social embarrassment, job stress and various personal issues that arise from the look of their skin.

What causes psoriasis?

The precise root cause of psoriasis has not been found yet. However doctors believe that there are factors or combination of those factors, together with genetic predisposition and factors  due to the surrounding environment. It is also normal for psoriasis to be present in genetic lines of the same family. The immune system is regarded to have a vital role. Despite spending over 30 years till now on research looking for culprit the real cause of psoriasis still remains unknown.

What does psoriasis look like? What are the symptoms of psoriasis?

Psoriasis usually appears as red or pink patches of thickened, clogged, and dry skin. It  usually attacks areas above the elbows, knees, and the scalp. Eventually any area of your body can be vulnerable to psoriasis. Areas of injury, continuous rubbing or abrasions are particularly vulnerable.

Psoriasis may also show various other symptoms. It can be little firmed bumps, large thick layers of raised skin, pink mildly dry skin and red patches to big scales of dry skin that peel off.

Psoriasis has several various kinds of its own. They are psoriasis vulgaris which is the most usual form that’s common among sufferers, guttate psoriasis that show little drop alike spots, inverse psoriasis that are usually present in the underarm area, buttocks and navel), the pustular psoriasis that ends with fluid-filled yellowish little blister. There’s also palmoplantar psoriasis that affects mostly the soles and the palms.

Sometimes peeling of one of these little dry white flakes of skin triggers a small blood mark on the skin. This is a specific diagnostic symptom that medically referred to as the Auspitz sign.

Psoriasis on our scalp may show up as severe dandruff with dry flakes and red patches of skin. It can be hard to differentiate among scalp psoriasis and seborrhea dermitis or known as dandruff. However, the treatment is usually pretty similar for both problems.

Scalp Psoriasis treatment

Treatments are usually mixed and changed because an individual’s  psoriasis can become less receptive to drugs after multiple uses. Systemic treatments are usually used not only for scalp psoriasis but also for psoriasis that appears on other areas of the body and/or if the psoriasis is from moderate to severe.

Mild scalp psoriasis treatments

Most coal tar and non-coal tar medically treated shampoos are for healing scalp lesions. Take note however that kind of medicated shampoos are meant to be for scalps and not the hair. Sometimes doctors may administer steroid medications into scalp lesions. This is applicable only when the scalp psoriasis is mild and affects a few areas. Steroid injections are are rarely given due to the medication being quite powerful and carrying possible side effects.

Popular topical treatments for scalp psoriasis are:
Anthralin, Tazorac, Dovonex, Taclonex
Usual systemic medication treatments are:
Biologics, Oral retinoids, Methotrexate, Cyclosporine
There’s also a method of treating your scalp with Ultraviolet light for better results you may want to shave your head. There are now hand-held tools called UV combs which deliver a higher intensity of UV light. Also don’t forget about natural sunlight that can help if the hair is thin or the head is shaved.

Dermatologists focus in the diagnosis and healing of psoriasis while rheumatologists have expertise in managing joint related disorders including psoriatic arthritis.
The American Academy of Dermatology and the National Psoriasis Foundation are excellent source to assist you with finding physicians who focus on treatment of this disease. However not every dermatologist and rheumatologist treats psoriasis. The National Psoriasis Foundation contains updated databases of existing psoriasis specialists.

Psoriasis specialists apply many effective treatments. The treatment is usually depends on the individual and determined case by case considering factors as the kind of disease, the severity of the condition, how much of the body area has been affected.

For not so serious psoriasis cases where only small areas of the body are affected topical skin cream or lotion and spray can be very effective and safe. Sometimes a local injection of steroids is required to treat a difficult or hard to go away psoriasis.

One of the most popular psoriasis treatments is known as “rotational” therapy. This is a popular practice that applies cycles of psoriasis treatments every 6 to 24 months to reduce the probable side effects from any one kind of therapy or medications.

For example, if a psoriasis sufferer has been on oral methotrexate for 2 years, then it could be possible to stop that medication and switch to light therapy or a biologic injectable drug for some time. By changing to a medicine that doesn’t overload the liver, the possibility of cumulative liver damage could be lessened.