Are Baby Boomers At Risk For Psoriasis-The Scaly Skin Disorder

Are Baby Boomers At Risk For Psoriasis-The Scaly Skin Disorder? Psoriasis is a dry, scaly skin disorder and usually develops in people that are in the age group between age 11 and age 45.

Many Doctors believe that psoriasis is genetic and is caused by the immune system being mistakenly “triggered”, resulting in skin cells being produced too quickly.

Normal, skin cell replacement takes about 21-28 days. Patients with psoriasis usually take around 2 to 6 days.

Psoriasis affects approximately 3 per cent of people globally and 7 million Americans. Psoriasis is not a contagious disorder, however, people with the condition can sometimes suffer from social exclusion and discrimination. It is a very unsightly disease.

What Are The Symptoms Of Psoriasis

Normally skin is a constantly shedding dead cells. However, when the skin accelerates the replacement process, both dead and live cells accumulate on the skin surface. When this happens red, flaky, crusty patches covered with silvery scales appear.

Psoriasis can occur on any part of the body, but it is most commonly found on the elbows, knees, lower back and the scalp. The bad part…It can also cause intense itching and burning.

Since psoriasis is a genetic tendency, it appears to need to be triggered by infection; certain medicines, including ibuprofen and lithium; psychological factors, including stress; or skin trauma.

There is no way of predicting who will develop psoriasis. 50 to 60% of people who first experience it do not know of anyone else in their family who has had it. Perhaps it is like Lupus and skips a generation.

Psoriasis is characterized by raised, inflamed, red lesions covered by a silvery white scale. It is typically found on the elbows, knees, scalp and lower back, although it can occur on any area of the skin.

However, a growing body of research suggests that psoriasis patients are at an increased risk of developing serious medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, particularly when their psoriasis is severe.

Since psoriasis and inflammation walk-hand-in-hand, inflammation is also present in other common conditions, such as hardening of the arteries, hart attacks, stroke, obesity and diabetes which may explain why some psoriasis patients may be at an increased risk for developing these other serious conditions.

Studies show the link between patients with severe psoriasis and diabetes, heart attack and coronary artery disease occurs independent of traditional risk factors for these other conditions such as obesity, smoking or high blood pressure.

If you are a Baby Boomer who has any of these risk factors and psoriasis there are natural treatments that you can use to stop itching and irritated skin, control scaling and flaking, control skin symptoms and moisturize your skin.