Flexural Psoriasis
A Guide to Understanding Flexural Psoriasis
Flexural Psoriasis is a chronic skin condition with no known cure. While this condition is not contagious, its appearance, including red, swollen, flaky areas, often raises unwarranted concern. The name “psoriasis” comes from a Greek word, “Psora” that translates as “to itch”. With this skin condition, the number of skin cells is much greater than normal. Typically, a person’s skin would reach maturity in about 25 days but in the instance of Psoriasis, it matures quicker, usually in about four days.
Although mature adults and children, especially girls, are prone to developing Flexural Psoriasis most, people of any age group can be affected, regardless of where in the world they live. Interestingly, this condition seldom affects people with dark skin, instead being more of a problem for individuals that have fair skin. Overweight people also seem to have more cases since this condition commonly develops in skin folds, places where the skin rubs together and individuals suffering from depression are known to have more outbreaks due to added stress.
Most forms of psoriasis have a silvery appearance but for Flexural Psoriasis, the affected area of the skin is red and flakey. This particular type of psoriasis has several unique types and many medical professionals believe this skin condition is can be linked to certain lifestyle or medical issues. For instance, the following are known contributors to outbreaks:
- Smoking
- Poor Diet
- Heavy alcohol consumption
- Depression, stress, and anxiety
- Antidepressant and beta blocker medications
- Seasonal changes
- Extreme hot or cold climates
- Excessive weight
One of the challenges associated with Flexural Psoriasis is that it can develop on virtually any part of the body. However, areas where moisture is found, to include folds of the skin, deep scars, beneath the breasts, the navel, penis, anus, groin, and vulva, natal cleft, and armpits are the most common. Keeping the areas dry and adopting a healthier lifestyle can certainly help reduce or even eliminate outbreaks.
In addition to itching, redness, and flakiness, Flexural Psoriasis can develop into complicated problems. As an example, a person with this skin condition can face a fungal infection. Lichenification, a form of eczema can also develop, which is the result of the skin rubbing together. In addition, for people that have psoriasis of this kind in the groin or vulva areas, sexual intimacy can be extremely uncomfortable or even painful. Because of the potential for secondary complications, the key is to get the condition under control.
One of the first steps is getting a firm diagnosis of Flexural Psoriasis. From there, a topical steroid cream typically works well to bring the person relief but this treatment should not be used for a long time in that it can cause the skin to thin out. With this, nerve fibers become highly sensitive, which actually increases the intensity of itching. For chronic outbreaks, creams containing high doses of vitamin D, Cyclosporine A, other immune system suppressants, exposure to the sun, and a weeklong fast of water and juice seem to work best. Once the condition is brought under control, it would be important to keep problem areas dry to keep prevent future outbreaks.