Symptoms, types, treatment of psoriasis on the legs

Since the exact etiology of the process is unknown, the search for the most effective treatment is relevant. In the treatment of the disease, hormonal drugs are often used, which only relieve external symptoms, while remission lasts several months, and the drugs themselves can cause side effects. The medicine for psoriasis on the legs is prescribed by a dermatologist, while the complex of traditional methods may include folk remedies for psoriasis.

There are many ways to treat psoriasis on the legs. As a rule, the treatment of psoriasis of the legs includes systemic and local therapy, the appointment of physiotherapy, adherence to the regimen and diet.

Classification of psoriasis of the lower extremities

On the legs, psoriasis manifests itself only in 30% of cases of skin lesions. Dermatologists classify the initial stage of the development of the disease in this part of the body into two groups:

1. Psoriasis type 1. It affects the legs of children, adolescents, adult men and women due to their genetic predisposition to this disease. In total, at least 60% of all cases had relatives who suffered from this disease. Most often, psoriasis of the lower extremities is transmitted to descendants born in the 3rd-4th generation. Therapy of hereditary psoriasis is long and requires the systemic administration of special medications to contain the spread of plaques from the surface of the legs to the trunk and other parts of the body.
2. Psoriasis type 2. This is an already acquired form of the disease, which develops due to the presence of the risk factors mentioned above. The age category of patients with psoriasis of the legs is people who have reached 40 years of age and older. Often these dermatological patients abuse alcohol, eat unhealthy food, work in enterprises with harmful working conditions, or have experienced a morally difficult stressful situation in their lives. In such patients, the initial stage of the disease is always acute and with a vivid clinical picture. A month after the appearance of the first red spots, the knee and hip joints begin to be affected. It all depends on the location of the plaques.

Prevention

The fact that the disease is much easier to prevent than to cure is not a secret.

This statement is true in relation to psoriasis in full. To prevent the development of psoriasis, the following recommendations should be observed:

• avoid emotional tension and stress. Have a positive attitude towards life, do not worry about trifles;
• lead a healthy lifestyle, do not abuse alcohol, smoke and, moreover, do not use drugs in any case;
• timely treat foci of infections in the body, strengthen general immunity;
• smear the skin with moisturizers, prevent dehydration and dryness;
• do not neglect such effective means of prevention as folk. Sometimes it is enough to smear areas of skin allergies with appropriate herbal creams to never hear the diagnosis of psoriasis.

Care for affected skin

In the presence of plaques and rashes on the legs, they should be smeared with special preparations with moisturizing ingredients. It is good if the composition also includes anti-inflammatory and immunostimulating substances.

Do not smear the affected areas of the skin with aggressive products containing high concentrations of alcohol. The skin must not be dehydrated.

Particular care should be taken to avoid injury and damage to the skin. It is known for certain that they provoke new rashes, which are not easy to cure. It is worth using only soft, non-traumatic bath accessories.

Dieting

Proper nutrition is of no small importance. Often it is violations in the diet recommended by the doctor that do not allow curing psoriasis for many years.

Alkaline foods in the diet should be two to three times more than acidic. Alkaline foods include non-acidic fruits and vegetables. Alkaline mineral water may help. You should monitor the timely emptying of the intestines, use products that improve peristalsis

Complications

Complications in psoriasis are characterized by the appearance of concomitant diseases. The cardiovascular system suffers the most, which often leads to a heart attack or coronary heart disease. In some cases, the disease can provoke diabetes.

Treatment of psoriasis on the fingers requires an integrated approach and, most importantly, time. Therapeutic actions should be primarily aimed at reducing the foci of inflammation. Psoriasis on the hands often passes to the nails, which should not be allowed. Otherwise, healing will take much longer.

Medical treatment

Treatment must be complex, so the drugs must be different. Be sure to use:

1. Creams and ointments.
2. Antihistamines.
3. Medicines for the gastrointestinal tract.
4. Preparations for raising immunity.

This is a basic treatment that always helps with mild stages of psoriasis.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy is used as one of the stages in the treatment of psoriasis. These procedures are based on the use of various natural factors, therefore, they help to stop the course of the disease. The patient undergoes a course of infrared and ultraviolet irradiation, acupuncture and cryotherapy.

Folk methods

Traditional medicine is rich in recipes to get rid of the symptoms of the disease and achieve long-term remission. First of all, various baths have proven themselves well:

• with sea salt;
• with herbal decoctions.

Bay leaf baths are effective. For cooking, pour 20 gr. leaves with 2 cups of water and boil for 10 minutes over low heat. After the broth has cooled, you need to hold the affected hands or feet in it for at least half an hour.

The skin on the hands or feet affected by psoriasis can be wiped with juniper tincture, birch tar or celandine juice. Sea buckthorn oil is advised to lubricate the nails to strengthen them.

What does psoriasis on the leg look like?

The initial form of the disease does not cause serious discomfort in the patient. It is manifested by slight itching and redness of the skin. Gradually, the intensity increases and plaques of a pink or red hue appear on the legs. The size of the papules is in the range of 3-5 mm, with further development, the spots grow and connect with each other.

Characteristic manifestations are yellowish or white scales, they are easily scraped off, but peeling in this case increases. If you get rid of peeling, you can see a red shiny film. Its removal provokes the release of a drop of blood, which in medicine is called blood dew.

Psoriasis formed on the soles of the feet, accompanied by unbearable itching. Patients cannot resist the desire to comb the affected area. This opens up access to a bacterial infection, which complicates further treatment.

Why does psoriasis develop on the legs

Psoriasis on the legs is a chronic skin pathology with a hereditary predisposition. The development of the disease is facilitated by the influence of predisposing factors. Factors predisposing to the development of psoriasis on the legs:

1. Limb injuries - abrasions, cracks, wounds. In persons prone to this pathology, they often become inflamed, accompanied by itching, combed. Against this background, psoriatic rashes appear. These causes most often cause psoriasis in the knee joints in children, adolescents and athletes.
2. Skin diseases and abrasions of the feet. Especially often the disease develops against the background of fungal infections. It is important to wear tight shoes in which the feet sweat and injure.
3. Metabolic disorders, obesity, diabetes mellitus, endocrine diseases, age-related hormonal disorders, pregnancy. Any hormonal imbalance can cause the onset of the disease.
4. Any chronic processes and foci of infection, leading to intoxication of the body.
5. High emotional, mental and physical stress.
6. Improper irregular nutrition, intestinal dysbacteriosis.
7. Immune disorders.

Treatment with folk remedies

Very often, the treatment of foot psoriasis is not limited to traditional medicine methods. It is better to join forces with recipes for effective traditional medicine.

Most often, a recipe for decoctions, ointments, baths, compresses is used to get rid of psoriatic disease.

Decoctions

To prepare a remedy that can relieve the acute symptoms of the disease, you will need celandine and oregano, taken in equal proportions, add chopped licorice root to them, which should be 2 times more than each of the previous components, and take three times more strings. All this mixture should be poured with boiling water and kept for a quarter of an hour. Then strain the infusion and take half a glass twice a day. The greatest efficiency can be achieved if psoriasis has just begun to appear.

Ointment

Birch tar is mixed with olive oil, the resulting mixture is applied to plaques as often as possible to achieve maximum effect.

Baths

For these purposes, an infusion of celandine is suitable, it will not only help eliminate rashes, but also normalize the functioning of the body.

Celandine is poured with boiling water, insisted for at least an hour, filtered and added to a warm bath. The procedure for taking a bath with celandine should not exceed 10 minutes in time. This method can become daily.

Compresses

Potatoes did well here. To prepare a compress, you will need to grate raw potatoes on the smallest grater. Then, juice is squeezed out of the resulting mass and applied to the affected areas, the leg is wrapped with a film or bag on top, and a warm sock is put on. The potato compress is kept for several hours, otherwise the effect will not be achieved.

Characteristics of rashes

The clinical picture of foot psoriasis manifests itself depending on the course of the disease, or rather its stage.

There are the following stages of psoriasis:

1. Initial. Rashes at the very beginning of the disease look like acne, having a slightly convex shape. In addition, silver-steel-colored scales begin to form on each papule;
2. Progressive. Rashes appear more and more, and the papules begin to increase in diameter and merge together, forming a continuous area of damage. This whole process is accompanied by intense unbearable itching;
3. Acute. The disease, entering the stage of acute development, is accompanied by new rashes, while the old ones stop growing, starting the process of peeling;
4. Stationary. New elements of the rash no longer appear, and the affected areas of the skin are completely exfoliated. In place of the former plaques, a pigmentation zone is formed;
5. Regression. At this stage, the disease characterizes the cleansing of the skin from psoriatic signs, the general well-being of the patient improves to a large extent.

Treatment and diagnosis

Diagnosis and treatment of psoriasis on the legs is performed by a dermatologist, the method is very simple and consists in a simple examination of the skin, blood tests (general and biochemistry). Modern medicine does not have the means to completely cure psoriasis. In some cases, treatment is used to alleviate the condition and remission of symptoms.

It depends on many factors such as:

• gender of the patient;
• age range;
• place of residence (climatic zone);
• activities (work, etc. );
• stage of psoriatic lesions.

Treatment with local drugs

In addition to products that moisturize the skin, a dermatologist may prescribe the use of topical preparations that are easy to use at home:

• agents containing coal tar, they help slow down the growth of psoriatic plaques and keratinized scales.
• salicylic acid solution allows you to remove and exfoliate scales with great efficiency;
• Corticosteroids, made in the form of gels, are applied to the skin and covered with a bandage. This remedy slows down the growth of the formation of new psoriatic plaques.

Systemic drugs

If local drugs cannot cope with the manifestation of psoriasis, then other groups of drugs are prescribed.

For the treatment of psoriasis of the legs, a combined treatment consisting of retinoids and light therapy is very often used. As a rule, ultraviolet therapy or point laser therapy is prescribed.

If all the methods that were mentioned above did not help, then drugs that affect the immune system selectively may be indicated.

Psoriasis of the legs is a very unpleasant disease, but you need to know that it does not pose a threat to life, although it significantly reduces its quality. Rare cases are characterized by the fact that the inflammation does not manifest itself in any way for several years. However, at the first symptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor, and not self-medicate - this will help to avoid the progress of the disease and complications.

How does psoriasis appear on the feet?

Rashes with this type of lesion are concentrated on the sole and back of the foot. They have the form of classic psoriatic plaques - areas of inflamed skin, a few millimeters above the surface of healthy tissues, covered with grayish scales. The development of pathology is accompanied by the formation of calluses, hyperkeratosis (thickening) of the skin in these areas develops. As the disease worsens, deep cracks appear, the epidermis turns intensely red. Very often, due to the external manifestations of this form of the disease, it is confused with the development of diseases such as eczema, mycotic lesions and signs of secondary syphilis. Photos will help to accurately identify foot psoriasis.

Foot psoriasis: causes

The causes of psoriasis on the feet are not completely known. Absolute certainty exists only in relation to the significance of the hereditary factor in the occurrence of pathology. All other reasons act only as possible provoking factors. These include:

• weakening of the immune forces of the body;
• transferred viral and bacterial, in particular, streptococcal infections;
• stress, depression;
• the presence of excessive sweating of the legs;
• hormonal changes in the body;
• violation of metabolic processes.

Manifestations of psoriasis on the feet: photo

In addition to visible inflammation, redness of the skin, in pathology there are also symptoms such as itching, burning, pain of varying intensity in the affected area. This creates significant discomfort for a person, since movements when walking are difficult.

Due to the roughness of the epidermis on the feet, plaques do not always flake off, although such a sign may also be present. It depends on the hydrophilicity of the tissues in the patient.

Foot psoriasis: treatment

Before prescribing treatment for psoriasis on the feet, the doctor needs to conduct an external examination of the pathological area in order to visually differentiate the disease. There are no special methods of additional examination in medicine today, since the disease is of non-infectious origin and has not been fully studied.

The treatment of foot psoriasis is carried out in a complex way, that is, the drug approach is combined with a course of physiotherapy procedures, which can significantly alleviate the patient's condition. The use of specific drugs - cytostatics - occurs already with a significant progression of the disease. At the initial stages of the development of the disease, medications are used in the form of gels or ointments topically (sulphuric, salicylic), corticosteroids are prescribed. This is done in order to reduce the negative effect of pharmacological preparations on the patient's body. Additionally, a course of vitamin therapy, immunomodulating and antihistamines is prescribed. Photos of psoriasis on the feet are widely available on the Internet.

Signs of illness

The initial stage of psoriasis on the legs in most cases is taken by doctors for the manifestation of an allergic reaction to some external irritant. Especially if the patient seeks medical help in the summer, when there is an abundance of various allergens in the environment.

Signs of psoriasis on the legs at the initial stage are as follows:

1. The first small pink rash or red spots appear in places where the skin most often rubs against the inner surface of clothing. This may be the knees, groin or ankle area.
2. Neoplasms on the skin always at the first stages have the correct shape with clearly traceable boundaries. After 3-5 days, they increase in size and form a single plaque of reddish-pink color with an oval or rounded shape.
3. The spots are gradually covered with a white coating, which forms keratinized skin cells. These are multiple scales that are easily separated when touching the damaged surface of the skin.
4. At all stages of the initial stage of the disease, a person feels severe itching of the skin of the legs. When you try to scratch an itchy area of the body, severe pain is felt.
5. Taking antihistamines only temporarily relieves the feeling of itching, but is not able to stop the further spread of the red rash and spots. This is a key factor indicating that the dermatological problem is not associated with the manifestation of an allergic skin reaction to external stimuli.

The initial stage of psoriasis on the legs

The first signs of scaly lichen on the legs are associated with increased sensitivity to pain, as well as itching.

Depending on the manifestations, you can see what stage of the disease we are talking about.

The initial stage of this disease manifests itself in the form of a rash of red or bright pink color.

Initially, the rashes are small and occupy a minimum of the skin.

Over time, the rash develops from separate parts into a large spot that stands out with a red tint.

Because of this association, psoriatic plaques are formed, which rise slightly above the surface of the skin. Inflamed areas are accompanied by severe itching, which greatly torments patients.

After that, peeling of the affected tissues begins.

Symptoms of the disease

Most often, under the influence of scaly lichen on the legs, the knees, thighs, feet, and also the area near the ankle fall. These areas show symptoms such as:

• severe persistent itching;
• swelling in the affected areas;
• the appearance of psoriatic papules;
• psoriatic arthritis;
• violation of the structure of the nail plates on the legs.

Characteristic features

Reddish areas appear on the skin, slightly rising above the skin. These rashes become noticeable immediately, because their bright color, characterized by an inflammatory process, stands out against the background of clean areas.

Later, they form one large affected area. The psoriatic plaques that appear after this will begin to peel off, but if they are pulled off, they will bleed a little or simply leave behind a red smooth surface.

What is psoriasis on the legs

This skin disease is not considered contagious, but it causes physical and psychological suffering to a person. Psoriasis, which appeared once, after treatment may not remind of itself for a long time. Often the disease suddenly recurs for unknown reasons. With psoriasis, there is a violation in the formation of skin cells, their accelerated development. With the onset of the inflammatory process that appears on the legs, a surface lesion is observed:

• stop;
• feet
• fingers;
• hips;
• areas around the joints;
• nails.

A feature of psoriasis is that its origin is not fully understood, which makes treatment difficult. Inflammation of the skin of the legs is exacerbated by problems with human motor activity. Unfortunately, it is not possible to radically solve the issue of completely getting rid of psoriasis. The patient is helped:

• relieve painful symptoms;
• slow down the growth of rashes on the legs;
• alleviate the condition;
• restore working capacity;
• return to a fulfilling life.

The onset of psoriasis may be characterized by the formation of a rash - pink papules on the surface of the skin of the legs. As the disease progresses:

• swelling in the joints;
• development of psoriatic arthritis;
• redness;
• dense scaly plaques;
• cracking of the skin;
• intolerable itching;
• bleeding;
• combining individual elements into a common lesion.

The manifestations of psoriasis differ depending on the site of violation of the skin of the legs. The following features are characteristic:

• on the hips - large areas with rashes, peeling;
• nails - thicken, exfoliate, change the color and shape of the nail plate;
• leg joints - become inflamed, their mobility is limited;
• foot psoriasis - the soles are covered with a thick keratinized layer of cells, cracking, severe redness are observed, sensitivity increases.

Although the disease is common, doctors cannot say the exact reason why it occurs. There are provoking factors that cause this skin pathology of the legs and other parts of the body. Psoriasis can begin as a result of:

• hereditary predisposition;
• hormonal failure in the body;
• skin injury;
• excessive hygiene;
• infectious diseases;
• stressful situations.

Medical science believes that the cause of psoriasis lies in the failure of the immune system, disorders in the functioning of epithelial cells. Unfavorable factors can provoke a disease of the skin of the legs, including:

• psycho-emotional stress;
• exposure to chemicals;
• violations of metabolic processes;
• dry thin skin;
• alcohol intoxication;
• climate change;
• varicose veins in the legs;
• lipid metabolism pathologies.

In order to help a sick baby in a timely manner, correct diagnosis is required. In childhood, psoriasis can be confused with other skin diseases of the legs. Timely treatment of a sick child will help save him from severe symptoms and complications. The appearance of psoriasis in a baby is a consequence of:

• allergies;
• helminthic invasions;
• lack of vitamins;
• hereditary factors;
• failures in the immune system.

Symptoms of the disease in a child are different:

• psoriasis on the feet can take the form of a continuous reddening of the surface, which cannot be touched due to pain;
• with damage to the nails, points similar to needle pricks are observed;
• in the skin folds of the legs, rashes are noted that peel off, itch, and do not allow to sleep;
• large areas of redness with cracks and bleeding are formed on the hips.

The patient's condition and symptoms depend on the stage of development of psoriasis. Pathologies arising on the surface of the legs consistently change over a long period. There are several stages in the development of psoriasis:

• initial - the first rashes, redness, swelling appear - a situation favorable for treatment;
• progressive - new plaques are actively formed, existing, increase in size, everything is accompanied by intense itching, peeling.

At the following stages of psoriasis, changes in the course of the disease are observed:

• acute - the progression of the growth of rashes stops, scales appear;
• stationary - new papules do not appear on the legs, the old ones form a layer that gradually peels off, leaves spots;
• regressing - the disease stops, the plaques disappear without a trace, all unpleasant symptoms disappear, the patient is healthy.