Psoriasis Basics - Quality of Life With Psoriasis

Though neither contagious nor a threat to life, Psoriasis is a chronic skin disorder that flares and remits throughout the life span of its victim. The inflammatory skin condition is triggered off by faulty signals in the immune system. Most common symptoms of Psoriasis encompass patches of raised, reddish skin covered by silvery-white scale, as well as, burning sensation, irritation, inflammation, itching and bleeding. The inflammation is caused by the abnormal discharge of "healing" chemicals by the white blood cells. The red and flaky patches mostly appear on scalp, elbows, knees, and lower back.

Psoriasis is not taken as a serious ailment as it is not life threatening to the victim. Nevertheless, being inflicted with Psoriasis has extremely serious repercussions on the patient's quality of life.

To begin with, Psoriasis is a chronic disease. This means that it is a lifelong condition because currently there is no cure. Under the circumstances, a patient of Psoriasis struggles helplessly all his life without any respite. According to a study, the patients of Psoriasis considered the general appearance of their skin to be the worst part of having the disease. Another study revealed that the patients found itching and scaling especially agonizing.. No doubt, the patients of Psoriasis are therefore seen depressed, angry and irritated both during flares and remissions. The incessant itching, scaling, irritation and inflammation keeps them arrested in negativity and disinterest.

Apart from the piercing physical pain and irritation, patients of the skin disorder undergo an emotional trauma on daily basis. They become reclusive as they experience low self-esteem and lack of confidence. They feel dejected, as the response from the society is disdainful. So much so that many patients, especially men take up heavy smoking and intake of alcohol, to relieve themselves from the emotional torture. However, experts relate smoking and drinking to be one of the possible reasons for the onset of this skin disease.

The society fails to realize the pain behind the dejected faces, going through an ugly experience. Most of the people who meet them look down upon their miserable physical appearance without empathy. The feeling of social rejection keeps strengthening within the victim.. A study reveals that most of the patients of Psoriasis experienced stress due to reaction of others to their sorry physical state. It has also been observed that most of the people suffering from Psoriasis suffer from sexual recession because of the painful realization of their physical symptoms.

In a nutshell, the irritating skin condition called Psoriasis brings down the quality of life of its patients considerably. They are deprived of their social, emotional and physical well-being and robbed off their rightful happiness.