Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory non-infectious skin disease. A typical characteristic of psoriasis are substantial, plaque-like deposits of scaly skin on considerably reddened, inflamed skin. However, with psoriasis, the inflammation events are not necessarily restricted to the skin. For psoriasis patients suffer more frequently from certain internal illnesses than those not affected. These include in particular Crohn's disease and colitis ulcerosa (inflammatory intestinal diseases), psoriasis arthritis, diabetes mellitus type II, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and the so-called metabolic syndrome (accompanied, e.g. by increased blood lipid values, arteriosclerosis, overweight, increased blood sugar levels and high blood pressure).

Psoriasis can occur in various forms. Depending on how the illness manifests itself on the skin, a distinction is made between different forms of psoriasis. The most common form of psoriasis is psoriasis vulgaris which is also called plaque-type psoriasis. Around 80% of psoriasis patients suffer from this form of the illness. For around 10% to 30% of patients, inflammations of the joints can also occur. This is then called psoriasis arthritis. Other forms of psoriasis are presented in the chapter Symptoms. Around 2% of the population in Germany suffer from psoriasis, which equates to more than 1.6 million people.