Literally, psoriatic arthritis is a combination both psoriasis and arthritis. While psoriasis exhibits reddish scale-like patches, the appearance totally depend how severe it is and for how long it has been in a patient. On the other hand, as what everybody knows about arthritis; it causes inflammation in the joints such as knees, elbows, etc…
However, in rare cases, a person may be able to get or develop psoriatic arthritis without even leaving a single symptom in the body. But normally when men develop this disease, the spine would be affected by it whereas for women, the disease may result to rheumatoid form greatly affecting majority of the joints in the body.
Psoriatic arthritis may be the result of severe infection from previous illnesses, hereditary and environment. However, medical science affirms that people with weaker immune systems are most likely to develop it.
Commonly, doctors would prescribe non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and ointments when the disease is still in its initial stage. However, when it has gone advanced before being diagnosed, there are more complicated treatments to be used such as phototherapy, systemic and topical therapy or the combination of them. In most severe cases, surgery would be the last resort. |