New Psoriasis Treatments
World Psoriasis Day 29 October 2024
Inspiring Hope and Empowering Individuals with Psoriasis
With advances in genetic research constantly being updated, new psoriasis treatments that are more effective than steroid creams, salicylic acid or coal tar provide psoriasis patients with enhanced medications targeting the source of the problem. Once thought to be a skin disorder, research conducted in the past decade has discovered psoriasis actually originates from a misdirected immune system response.
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On top of that, the swelling arising from the "body system striking the body system" makes psoriasis plaques red, scratchy and even puffy.
Currently identified as an autoimmune problem, psoriasis plaques are the outcome of an overflow of skin cells that pass away and also swiftly gather, developing the thick, flaky spots a measure of psoriasis. Disease-fighting lymphocytes put right into the blood as well as initiate unmanageable manufacturing of skin cells due to the fact that the immune system wrongly assumes an infection is assaulting the body system.
New Psoriasis Treatments--From Vitamin D
About 25 years ago, a substance called calcitriol provided remission of psoriasis for a patient who had suffered severe psoriasis outbreaks since a child. Calcitriol is a form of vitamin D normally used as an anti-osteoporosis medication. However, when a patient with psoriasis took calcitriol for osteoporosis, his psoriasis unexpectedly vanished.
Researchers then created a topical ointment containing calcitriol and found that in a series of controlled experiments, nearly 85 percent of participants experienced marked improvement with psoriasis after applying the ointment to lesions.
Currently, three new varieties of the original calcitriol medication have been synthesized and approved for use on psoriasis:
- Tacalcitol--Sold under the brand names Bonalfa and Curatoderm, tacalcitol reduces psoriasis symptoms by reducing rampant skin cell production by interacting with keratinocytes, or vitamin D receptors. Tacalcitol is also prescribed for chronically chapped lips, eczema, vitiligo and other skin conditions producing severely cracked, dry and bleeding skin.
- KH1060--As a vitamin D analog drug, KH1060 is prescribed for "hyperproliferative" conditions such as excessive skin cell production found in psoriasis as well as some cancers.
- Calcipotriol--Less likely to produce side effects than calcitriol, calcipotriol is now widely prescribed for psoriasis patients and is even safe to use in patients as young as two years old. Available under the trade name Dovonex, calcipotriol is applied as a cream directly to psoriasis lesions. Most patients experience improvement within two to three weeks.
New Psoriasis Treatments--Vitamin A
Synthesized from vitamin A components, retinoic acids originally treated acne, with impressive results. Researchers hoped these acids would alleviate psoriasis but were disappointed when results proved negligible. However, newer, "fourth generation" retinoic acids such as Zorac and Tazorac are confirming expectations regarding effectiveness of these topical substances.
In fact, a report published in a 1998 edition of Archives of Dermatology states that applications of Tazorac gel twice a day resulted in a significant reduction of psoriasis plaques in less than seven days. More importantly, patients continued to experience a psoriasis-free life up to 12 weeks of discontinuing use of the gel. Additionally, Tazorac produced no side effects and exhibited a low systemic absorption rate.
Other New Psoriasis Treatments
Vitamin therapy is only one of the avenues of treating psoriasis, and other natural, surgical and drug treatments include:
- Narrow-band ultraviolet-B phototherapy is used.
- Immunosuppressive medications, drugs such as cyclosporin used to facilitate organ transplants successfully treat severe psoriasis, with total remission achieved within two months from the start of treatment.
- Biologic agents are medications synthesized from chemicals found in living organisms. Mainly proteins manufactured in a laboratory setting, biologic agents are injected directly into the blood where they immediately start inhibiting components of the compromised immune system causing psoriasis.
- Administration of antibodies, such as three OKTcdr4a injections significantly reduces the amount of psoriasis lesions covering a patient's body for over a month.
- When
strep, impetigo or throat infections triggers psoriasis in children,
removing the adenoids and tonsils may prevent other psoriasis outbreaks
from occurring.
As research into the complex world of genetics and the immune system persists in providing medications that successfully treat disorders once thought to be untreatable, new psoriasis treatments will also continue to be discovered that offer patients lasting relief from an often debilitating disorder.
New Psoriasis Treatments and other treatments for psoriasis
