It is perhaps only natural that when a person first encounters psoriasis, whether it be themselves or someone else who has the disease, that they would assume it is a contagious one. The very nature of the condition, with its inflamed red patches of flaking skin, is something that causes revulsion in people along with a fear of catching it. The truth, of course, is that psoriasis is not at all contagious, and there is no risk of being around or coming into contact with a person that has psoriasis. You simply do not get psoriasis this way.
In order for a condition like psoriasis to be contagious, it would have to be some kind of bacteria or virus that causes the condition. Psoriasis is caused by neither, and so not contagious. The truth is that while we know that psoriasis is not caused by any virus or bacteria, what actually does cause it is not entirely understood. This is what makes curing the condition so difficult, and why no cure for the condition currently exists on the market.
In the absence of a psoriasis cure, the only available options open to a doctor that sees a patient suffering with psoriasis is to try to treat the symptoms of the disease. This means the treatments simply try to reduce to visible signs of the condition, but don't actually target why it is happening in the first place. Until the precise cause of psoriasis is better understood, a cure that addresses this cause cannot be produced. And so, we are left with trying to treat the symptoms instead.
Many people will try and treat these symptoms themselves at home, and over the counter topical skin creams and lotions are the obvious choice. For mild cases of psoriasis they can be enough, just be sure to use products made from natural ingredients. Those that contain chemicals will likely aggravate the skin and make the problem worse. If over the counter skin care products are not effective, your doctor will be able to prescribe something stronger.
Steroid creams are often prescribed by doctors as the first course of treatment to help a patient with psoriasis. Although they can be impractical when a large portion of the skin on the body is affected, they are used with good effect on smaller patches of the disease. The downside to such creams is that they can have some adverse side effects with prolonged use, so you can only use them in short bursts. You will probably find that in-between these bursts the psoriasis begins to return, resulting in a yo-yo like effect of the psoriasis patches clearing and then returning.
Unfortunately, until medical science is able to better understand psoriasis, all we can do is try and deal with the symptoms. Keeping the skin moisturised and hydrated will always help, but it is often not enough on its own to clear away the patches of psoriasis. Although psoriasis is not yet curable, with the right treatment it can at least be manageable.
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Read more about the different ways people are dealing with psoriasis , and gain a better understanding of psoriasis .
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