What are the causes of Psoriasis?

The exact cause of psoriasis remains unknown. There may be a combination of elements, including genetic predisposition and environmental factors. It is common for psoriasis to be found in members of the same family. The immune system is thought to play a major role. Despite research over the past 30 years looking at many triggers, the “master switch” that turns on psoriasis is still a mystery.

The cause of psoriasis isn’t fully known, but it’s thought to be related to an immune system problem with cells in your body. More specifically, one key cell is a type of white blood cell called a T lymphocyte or T cell. Normally, T cells travel throughout the body to detect and fight off foreign substances, such as viruses or bacteria. If you have psoriasis, however, the T cells attack healthy skin cells by mistake, as if to heal a wound or to fight an infection.

Overactive T cells trigger other immune responses. The effects include dilation of blood vessels in the skin around the plaques and an increase in other white blood cells that can enter the outer layer of skin. These changes result in an increased production of both healthy skin cells and more T cells and other white blood cells. This causes an ongoing cycle in which new skin cells move to the outermost layer of skin too quickly — in days rather than weeks. Dead skin and white blood cells can’t slough off quickly enough and build up in thick, scaly patches on the skin’s surface. This usually doesn’t stop unless treatment interrupts the cycle.

 Common causes includes

Excessive intake of yogurt, black gram, seafood, salty and sour food

People with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis face an increased risk of related conditions, otherwise known as comorbidities, which include coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke.

Although there is no scientific evidence, anecdotal evidence suggests that following a Mediterranean diet — based on the traditional dietary patterns of Greece, Spain and Southern Italy — may lower the risk of heart disease and certain cancers, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis and stroke, lower blood pressure and LDL levels (so-called “bad cholesterol”), improve brain function, eye health and fertility, promote a healthy body weight and increase life span.

The traditional Mediterranean diet is heavy on olive oil, beans, nuts, legumes and seeds, herbs and spices. Fruits, vegetables and grains are also a large part of the diet, while fish and seafood are recommended at least twice a week. Poultry, eggs, cheese and yogurt are eaten in moderation. Sweets and meats, however, do not play a large role in the Mediterranean diet. Daily physical activity, which can reduce the risk of inflammation, is also key.

Consumption of foodstuffs that cannot be eaten together (Eg: diary products with fish)

While fish is part of the Mediterranean diet, it’s important enough for its own mention.

“The inflammation you see in the skin is just one symptom of inflammation in the whole body,” said Adhout.

Foods containing omega-3 fats, found mainly in certain types of fish — particularly salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel and anchovies — have been found to reduce the severity of psoriasis in some patients. In addition, according to a 2006 study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association that analyzed 20 studies involving hundreds of thousands of participants, there is strong evidence that eating fish or taking fish oil is good for the heart and blood vessels, and that eating one to two three-ounce servings of fish per week reduced the risk of dying from heart disease by 36 percent.

In addition, fish oil capsules may lower the risk for heart attack and stroke by decreasing triglyceride levels, although taking too much can actually increase the risk of stroke, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Irregular food habits

consumption of food stuffs that cannot be eaten together for eg: dairy products with fish, excessive intake of yogurt, black gram, sea food, sour and salted items etc. can activate the ailment. Ayurveda suggests Panchakarma for effective treatment of Psoriasis. Basic principle is to detoxification of the body or elimination of toxins from the body fluids. This process will go for 5 to 7 days and has to be conducted

It is very important to begin treating the condition as soon as possible with the best Natural home remedies for Psoriasis. Application of creams and lotions can be risky at times due to the presence of steroids to tackle the skin problem quickly.

Mostly the drugs and creams will give a temporary solution only and nothing on long term effectiveness.

Listed below are 3 popular and natural home remedies for psoriasis—

Olive Oil: Olive oil is the most beneficial home remedy to cure Psoriasis. Olive oil should be warmed up and applied over the scales and thick plaques. Application of olive oil will moisten skin and the plaques and scales will quickly fall off. Olive oil is quickly absorbed by the skin and your skin looks great.

Honey:  Honey is popular in skin care and is a popular home remedy for Psoriasis.  You should pick the organic variety to avoid any itching / allergy problems. Apply a light layer of honey on the patches and observe the difference. Honey helps to minimize itching and quick healing.

Oatmeal Bath: Oatmeal bath is popular for its success criteria in healing Psoriasis. You can add oatmeal to your bath tub or into the bucket of water.  Allow your body to soak in it for 15 to 20 minutes. This will remove itchiness and your skin will see the difference of the wonderful affects of skin.

Emotional Factor And Stress

Experts aren’t sure how psoriasis and stress are linked. It may have to do with an effect on the immune system. Some people have their first flare of psoriasis during a very stressful time in their life.

So what aspects of psoriasis may cause stress?

Stigma. Living with psoriasis  can make you self-conscious and ashamed. Any aspect of being social can be stressful, from going on a date to shaking someone’s hand.

Finances. Psoriasis treatments  can be costly. A year’s supply of biologic drugs can cost more than $25,000. And even cheaper treatments add up.

Hereditary component

While a family history of psoriasis can’t be ignored, genes are just one aspect of this complicated condition. In only one-third of psoriasis cases is there a history of the disease in the family. Statistics show that if a parent has psoriasis, a child has about a 10 percent chance of developing it as well. In sets of identical twins, if one has psoriasis, there’s a 70 percent likelihood that the other twin will also become afflicted. A pair of fraternal, or non-identical, twins have about 20 percent chance of both developing psoriasis.

 

Accumulation of low potency poisons (Dooshi vishas)

Alcohol and tobacco consumption

By now, most people believe they know all about the dangers of smoking and drinking. But there is growing evidence that people with psoriasis ought to think especially hard before lighting up or downing more than a few.

Smoking and alcohol use increase your risk of developing psoriasis and may make the disease significantly worse. Heavy drinking may also prevent your treatment from working or your disease from going into remission. This is a particular problem since many people use alcohol or smoking to cope with the tough emotions—such as stress or anxiety—that psoriasis can cause.

Environmental factors such as trauma, sunlight, infection

Climatic change

Climate change is the deviation of the earth’s climate in a specific place or region over time. This kind of climate change takes a long time to be noticeable. As someone who has briefly studied meteorology, I am interested in climate change. But as someone with severe psoriasis, I am interested in a different kind of climate change. Do changing physical locations, climate zones, affect psoriasis?

I suppose if someone is interested in figuring out if and how climate might affect their psoriasis, they could take a long vacation or, more drastically, move. Creating an artificial climate using sun lamps, humidifiers,or air conditioners might be another way. While I am not exactly sure how global climate change might affect me, I have experimented with changing climates.

If you’re one of the many with whom psoriasis improves with exposure to the sunlight or to the ocean water, then you may want to live in places I’ve lived. I have called California home for most of my life with psoriasis. I spent three decades in the sunny areas of the San Francisco Bay Area. For college, I went to the University of California at Davis – another warm, sunny area. I spent one year in Vancouver, Washington (near Portland, Oregon), a colder, darker and rainy climate. Now I am in a desert climate, about 30 miles east of Los Angeles.

My skin condition became increasingly severe over the years in the Bay Area even though the weather didn’t change much. The move to Washington was against my dermatologist’s advice. He told me climate does matter and that I need to stay in lower latitudes. I hoped that having less stress as a student would counter any climate effect there. But my psoriasis didn’t do well in Washington at all. Even though I much enjoyed the outdoors there, the winters were too dark and wet. So we moved to Los Angeles County about a year and a half ago.

I have found Los Angeles much warmer, sunnier and closer to great beaches. One might think my skin would be much improved yet there are drawbacks. The dry winds can be fierce. The Santa Ana winds not only blew those ravaging fires a few months back, but they also bring extremely low relative humidity levels. My sores burn, crack and became sore in prolonged dry spells.

Immune System & genetics

Researchers agree that psoriatic disease is an autoimmune disease. That means that psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are actually caused by an overactive immune system. But how can your immune system—which is built to keep you healthy—actually cause an illness? The explanation can be found in the word itself. Autoimmunity occurs when the immune system automatically launches an inflammatory response against your own body.

When the immune system functions properly, it protects the body against any “invaders” that might make you sick, such as bacteria, viruses or other pathogens. But in people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, the immune system goes into action even without these invaders. Instead, the immune system fights the body’s own tissues. In psoriatic disease, this battle is waged in the skin and joints.

Researchers who study psoriatic disease are still working to identify the substances inside the body that the immune response mistakes for antigens. One possibility could be certain kinds of bacteria. For example, in some cases,streptococcal infection (known as strep throat) can trigger a case of guttate psoriasis. Another possible antigen could be antimicrobial peptides, molecules that are a part of the immune system and work as the body’s own antibiotics. Research funded by the National Psoriasis Foundation found that a particular antimicrobial peptide can cause an autoimmune reaction in many people with moderate to severe psoriasis.