Are There Any Cures For Psoriasis?

Sometimes, we just want that magic word cure to be true. However, at this time, there is no cure for Psoriasis. Psoriasis effects millions of Americans, including children, and it can impact their daily life in varying degrees. Not only can psoriasis be physically painful, but emotionally painful as well.

If you do not know, there are several types of psoriasis. It is an autoimmune disease, and is not contagious. Even though there are several types of psoriasis, most people suffer from plaque psoriasis, which causes red patches that have a white (silver) buildup of dead skins on the skin. These lesions are usually on the arms, legs and scalp, but can flare up anywhere on the body.

So how does one get rid of psoriasis? Probably, a better way to state it, would be, how does someone manage their psoriasis?

Even though the exact cause of psoriasis in still unknown, certain triggers can create flare ups. So if at all possible, it may be best to avoid stress, alcohol use, large amounts of animal fats in your diet and some prescribed medications such as beta blockers. Everyone's life has some stress, and using techniques such as yoga and meditation can help. Alcohol can increase the absorption of toxins and is best not to partake.. Diets rich in high-fiber, that include whole grains, fruits and vegetables can also be very helpful, as they help flush toxins from your system. Also depending on your circumstance, prescribed medications may be needed, so please consult with your health care physician on what is best for you.

Another way, is to re-nourish the skin on a daily basis. Too often, a doctor will prescribe a medication, that contains steroids, or cortisone, which after long term use, can have negative effects on the body. Also, many products available to consumers contain coal tar, which again, is not beneficial to your body.

Lastly, every person is different. There is no single product, diet, treatment that will work for everyone. Psoriasis is life-long, learn what your triggers are, improve your diet and use products that are safe. Just because one cream didn't work, does not mean there is not one that wouldn't work for you. When you try a product, read the ingredients, give it time to work and make sure it is guaranteed.

Top 10 Tips For Alleviating Dry Skin, Excema and Psoriasis

This time of year many people complain about dry, itching skin - from arms to legs. It happens when we head into fall and winter. Homes and businesses start turning on the heat, which means less moisture in the air and less for our skin. Among other things, we tend to drink less water than in the warm summer months.

The good news are these 10 tips for bringing life back to your skin. Here's to an itch-free winter!

1. Nix the long, hot shower. I know, it feels good. Especially on a cold day. But you are robbing your skin of moisture and oils. So cut it short - 5 minutes is plenty - and use warm water instead. Besides, you'll save on your utility bill. And if you can, switch to showers every other day (for skipped days, wash your hair in a sink). You'll notice a difference in your skin.

2. Take your Omega 3 EPA/DPA Fish Oils. In capsules, liquid, whatever it takes. Not only will it help your skin, your ligaments and joints are going to love it. Dr. Andrew Weil recommends two grams of fish oil daily. Also, flaxseed oil is a wonderful supplement for keeping skin healthy and glowing. Check with your M.D. Even simply switching from salad dressing to extra virgin olive oil is another good move to putting good oils in your body for the benefit of your skin.

3. Drink plenty of water. Yes, it's true and you've heard it all before. Drink eight to 10 8 oz. glasses throughout the day. Your skin is the largest organ and needs to flush the toxins out daily.

4. Turn on the humidifier. Home heating takes the moisture out of the air during the winter months. A $30 humidifier will aid your skin and sinuses. Most come with an indicator. Try to keep it at 35%.

5. Moisturize after your shower. This is the best time, since your pores are open and ready for protection.

6. Choose wisely what you put on your skin. 100% shea butter (from the pulp from Africa's karite trees) coats and protects the skin and is my first recommendation for those of you with a tendency toward super dry skin or even excema and psoriasis. It is a concentrated, therapeutic balm. I recommend 100% shea butter.

7. Skip the drying soaps and shampoos. Start reading the labels of these products and your skin will thank you. Don't use any products that have sulfates in them. It is an irritant and drying agent that literally strips your skin of its precious oils. Think of it as something you would use to degrease your car engine. While you're at it, throw out any products with parabens or dyes.

8. Take care of those hands and feet. Remember to moisturize them as well. Keep hands protect with gloves or mitten when outdoors. Protecting them from the elements makes a world of difference. Moisturize hands and feet when stepping out of the shower too, then again at bedtime. I recommend soaking your feet for a bit at night, then massaging them with shea butter and finishing off with a pair of cotton socks. You'll wake up with super soft feet.

9. Exfoliate twice a week with an inexpensive loofa or bristle brush. It aids circulation (start from the outer limbs and work toward your heart) and removes the surface layer of dead cells. Just think of it as prep work for applying moisturizer.

10. Cut down on Starbucks or your coffee of choice. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it removes water from the body. A good rule of thumb is for every cup of coffee you drink, tack on another 8 oz. of water (in addition to the 8 glasses you should be drinking daily).

So you made it through all 10 tips! They will get you through the winter with soft, hydrated skin.

UV Light to Treat Psoriasis

Light therapy is a clear proof that the role of lighting goes beyond what we normally understand using this term. Usually, when we say lighting we think illumination or light effects, or accent lighting. We rarely associate the term with a form of therapy, but light is used to treat various illnesses and it works; more or less. Light, in its different colors and form) is used to treat acne, eczema and psoriasis, sleep related disorders, depression (seasonal or non-seasonal) and it is believed to relieve even pain. Now let's take a look at a paradox: the harmful UV light is used to treat psoriasis.

The use of UV lighting to treat severe skin conditions is called phototherapy. One of the most severe skin conditions treated with ultra violet light is psoriasis. This is a very common skin disease, with many variations from psoriasis vulgaris (which is the most common form) to inverse psoriasis. The illness affects people of all ages, women and men with equal frequency. It is not transmissible; it occurs usually in the second decade of life and might remain a lifelong companion. The symptoms include irregular fingernail growth, raised and inflamed red lesions on the skin, covered with layers of dead skin cells and rarely, arthritis.

There is no cure for the disease, but there are some treatment options that could control the development of the skin lesions. Among them, use of UV lighting devices.

As you already know, UV light is harmful. There are three types of UV light: A, B and C. While UVC doesn't exist in its pure form in nature (the waves coming from the sun are getting absorbed in the atmosphere) UVB and UVA are present, yet not in sufficient amounts for people suffering from psoriasis. Too much of that light and we'll suffer too, for UV light might cause skin cancer, premature aging of the skin, cataracts and other problems, including DNA damage.

For the synthesis of vitamin D, we need UV-A, the least harmful of the three, but how does UV light help with psoriasis? Simple: it slows down the production of skin cells, thus helping to reduce inflammation. This is the very reason why overexposure causes skin disorders. Therefore, it is clear that UV light therapy should never be practiced in the absence of trained medics. The UVA light therapy method use to treat psoriasis is called PUVA. It combines psoralen and ultraviolet A. It is efficient on almost 85 % of the patients suffering from minor to medium forms of the disease. A number of 20-30 minute treatments are needed to start seeing obvious results. Too much UVA light and patients might experience adverse effects including nausea and burning.

UV-B is used alone or in combination with medicine. For example, the most popular form of treatment that employs UV-B is the Goeckerman regimen (UV-B plus coal tar). Other treatments are the Ingram method (which involves applying anthralin after a tar bath and UV-B light therapy) and a combination of UV-B with corticosteroids or other softening creams.

Relief From Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a very bad skin condition if it flares severely. Only the patient knows what he/she is undergoing. There is no way to share the trauma of skin falling and itching. The application of medication tires the patient after some time. One wants to run away from it but cannot. How to get relief from psoriasis? Let us talk about it.

Psoriasis- acceptance

To accept that I have psoriasis and it will not go away for my lifetime is the first step. When we get stressed, we trigger more of psoriasis. Better to keep calm. Let psoriasis be there on the body. Try to take attention away from it. Use the medicines as directed and stop worrying about it. Asking repeatedly- why me, will not help. Everyone has some pain. We have psoriasis. Let us accept it. If you suffer from psoriasis, you must have experienced that when psoriasis flares up, you get mentally disturbed. It beats us in both the directions. But we have to conquer it. The only way is to surrender to it without any resistance.

Psoriasis- think of other things

Thinking of Psoriasis will be of no help. That does not cure it. That worsens it. Better to think of other things in life. Try to achieve goals and love. Try to love others. Make life better. There is no other way out of a disease, which will be a lifelong companion. Make friends with it, because it will never leave you.

Psoriasis- medication

Many of us get very disheartened after trying many medications. We find that psoriasis returns. Some of the treatments are very troublesome and messy. Others have side effects. We get tired of medicines. Many of us search for alternatives to modern medicine. But after trying every possibility, we conclude that nothing works. It only tires us more. Better to talk to your doctor about this and use only few medicines. Accept whatever relief they give and continue with life as cheerfully as possible.

Getting the Vitamins You Need to Fight Psoriasis From Food

Chemically synthesized vitamin A has been used in the treatment of psoriasis since the early 1970's. The biologically active form of the vitamin, retinoic acid, is known to be a regulator of the genes that control cell division in the skin. Psoriatic skin cells require unusually large amounts of retinoic acid due to immune imbalances (an excess of the chemical interferon) in the region of the skin forming a plaque.

How does the food you eat provide you with retinoic acid? The easiest foods from which to extract vitamin A are those that are stirred, or at least provided as an emulsion. The gut best absorbs vitamin A from a mixture of fat and water. It has a hard time absorbing vitamin A from fat hitting the lower digestive tract without water.

This means, no matter how much you like butter, eating a stick every day won't make your psoriasis any better. Vitamin A is better provided by a plant source, combined with plant fat, such oil, nuts, seeds, or avocados. You should eat some plant fat at the same meal you eat any orange or yellow fruit or vegetable, but you don't need more than about a tablespoon of fat (and a teaspoon may be enough) to absorb the beta-carotene. Buttering vegetables also provides vitamin A, and is preferable to margarine, which only provides fat.

The human body can also make its own vitamin A out of beta-carotene. Overweight people, however, need to eat more beta-carotene to get the same amount of vitamin A, since they have more fat cells to "hide" the beta-carotene and keep it out of circulation.

The B vitamin folic acid is important in the management of psoriasis. Epidemiologists measuring bloodstream concentrations of folic acid found deficiencies in a majority of psoriasis sufferers, so most nutritionists recommend eating a lot of folate-rich foods. What foods are high folate/folic acid? Emphasize turkey, oranges, English peas, lentils, chickpeas, dried beans, avocados, asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Savoy cabbage, and bok choi. B vitamins are soluble, so prepare with a minimum of contact with water.

Do You Know What Causes Eczema and Psoriasis to Flare Up?

What is psoriasis? What is eczema? What triggers psoriasis? What causes eczema to flare up?

Those are only a few of the questions that people have and causes confusion.

First, let's define psoriasis. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease, that is chronic, and appears on the skin. It is not contagious, and is mostly on the elbows, legs and scalp, but can be anywhere on the body. The most common type of psoriasis is plaque psoriasis, although there are 5 different types of psoriasis. Plaque psoriasis can be recognized by red patches on the skin, with scales (a buildup of white dead cells). It can be itchy, uncomfortable and even painful at times. There can also be feelings of being overwhelmed, low esteem, and embarrassment. Millions and millions of American people have psoriasis, as many as 7.5 million people according to the National Institute of Health.

Some of the well known triggers for psoriasis are stress, climate change, certain medications (such as lithium), alcohol consumption, skin injury, and diet. Eczema, is a dermatitis(or inflammation of the skin) similar to psoriasis, but is a more of a condition than a disease. Eczema can create skin that is crusty, oozing, scabs that are usually very itchy. It does not have the white, flaky scales like psoriasis. The exact cause is not known, but the immune system is the activator.

Eczema usually is caused by some type of allergy. Most of the times, it is an external trigger that causes the eczema to flare up. Some of the triggers can be detergents, weather, stress, clothing, etc. There are many types of eczema, probably the most recognized is seborrheic eczema, commonly known as dandruff. In the case of dandruff, itching may not be the issue, but yellowish,scaly patches of skin on the scalp. Weather, oily skin and emotional stress, can increase the chance of developing this type of Eczema. Whether someone suffers from psoriasis or eczema, relief is wanted and needed. And as there is not just one type of psoriasis or one type of eczema, nor one trigger to create flare ups, there isn't 1 product that will work for everyone.

If you, or a loved one suffers from psoriasis or eczema, don't give up. There are products out there that work.

Top Seven Ways to Keep Your skin Looking Young

As someone who has researched a lot about skin care, I can tell you this. Most people who meet me have just one question to ask - how to keep skin young looking? Most of them have lots of misconceptions about skin care and use the wrong products all the time. Subsequently, needless to say, they do not get the results they want.

So, I thought of giving some skin care tips which I know will give you the best results for sure.

1. If you want to know how to keep skin young looking, here is your first tip. Never use soap. Soap dries your skin badly. Instead, use a mild cleanser. Cleansers are not harsh and hence they do not dry your skin. They cleanse your skin thoroughly while retaining the essential moisture required for your skin.

2. Do not overexpose your skin to sunlight. Use a good sunscreen when you go out during the day.

3. Use a good night cream. Your skin is tired and dull at the end of the day and it requires some nourishment. But choose your night cream wisely. Go for organic ones that are not greasy. It should be light enough to be absorbed by your skin.

4. Use a good moisturizer. Your skin loses moisture constantly and you need to keep it hydrated properly. Dry skin, as you know, is the starting point of most aging problems like wrinkles and lines. So, get a good organic moisturizer and use it regularly.

5. Use a good anti aging cream. Note the emphasis on the term 'good'. If you want to know how to keep skin young looking, you should know how to choose the right anti aging cream. It is as simple as that.

6. Some of the best ingredients you should look out for in an age defense cream include Cynergy TK, phytessence wakame, coenzyme Q10, active manuka honey, natural vitamin E, vitamin B5, allantoin, babassu, jojoba oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil, macadamia oil, avocado oil, rigin, and nutgrass root extract. These substances are highly potent and have great anti aging properties.

7. These substances can treat almost any skin problem including wrinkles, lines, cracks, age spots, dry skin, and dark circles. They nourish your skin and rejuvenate your skin cells to the core.

There you have it folks. The tips I have given above are the answer to the question 'how to keep skin young looking'. Keep these tips in mind, buy the right products, use them regularly, and keep your skin young and soft for a long time.