Who Can Develop Psoriatic Arthritis?

Most patients diagnosed with psoriasis only have to deal with the inflammatory skin condition. For some this is over a large area of the body. For others, the inflamed patches are spotty and few. Around 10% of patients develop a more severe problem called psoriatic arthritis.

Psoriatic arthritis is a painful swelling of the joints. If a patient develops both psoriasis and inflammation in the joints of the body, he is diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. It seems to begin somewhere between the ages of forty and fifty.

The arthritis rarely originates before the psoriasis, but it has occurred in this way. Some patients have the skin disorder for decades before developing psoriatic arthritis. Both genders seem to develop psoriatic arthritis equally.

Just as in the skin disease, researchers feel that psoriatic arthritis is an immune system problem.

Although a cause is unknown, it may be some combination of genetic coding and environmental agents. At least one gene marker has been identified for psoriatic arthritis.

A blood test is available for this particular marker.

Psoriatic arthritis causes fever, redness and stiffness in the joints of the body. It also can attack the major body tissues, such as the eyes, the lungs, or parts of the heart, as well as the spine. These problems are serious and cause some major medical difficulties. Doctors sometimes must intervene to prevent blindness or breathing trouble.

Because of the nature of the disease, which mimics so many others, psoriatic arthritis is a complex diagnosis for doctors to make. It is usually done by considering the history of psoriasis, and using blood tests to be sure that it isn’t another autoimmune disease.

Doctors may also test the fluid around the swollen joints for infection to check for psoriatic arthritis. They sometimes look for deteriorating bones or cartilage using x-rays. After a process of elimination, doctors can make a final diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis.

Treatment approaches for psoriatic arthritis are usually individual and may encompass several things. Patients may get some relief from over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs. Depending on the severity of the psoriatic arthritis, doctors may prescribe disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. These tend to slow the progress of the arthritis. Even anti-malarial drugs have been used in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis.

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More research is needed for the cause psoriatic arthritis as well as to discover new breakthroughs in psoriatic arthritis alternative treatment. That's because each arthritis psoriatic symptom can be very uncomfortable.

There may be certain psoriasis nutrition foods you can eat that will help relieve this skin disease. If you want to do further research, you can find images of psoriasis by searching the internet with the image search function. You'll also find more than one article on psoriasis online. Psoriasis supplements may also be an option for you as you consider your psoriasis and treatment choices.