Since the exact cause of this process is unknown, the search for the most effective treatment is involved. In the treatment of diseases, hormonal drugs are often used to relieve only the external symptoms, the remission lasts for several months, and the drugs themselves can cause side effects. Medicines for psoriasis of the feet are prescribed by a dermatologist, while complex traditional methods may include folk remedies for psoriasis.
There are many ways to treat foot psoriasis. As a rule, the treatment of psoriasis of the legs includes systemic and local therapy, the appointment of physiotherapy, compliance with the regimen and diet.
Classification of psoriasis of the lower extremities
In the legs, psoriasis is present in only 30% of skin lesions. Dermatologists classify the initial stage of development of the disease in this part of the body into two groups:
- Psoriasis type 1. It affects the feet of children, adolescents, adult men and women due to their genetic predisposition to the disease. In total, at least 60% of cases have a close relative with the disease. Usually, psoriasis of the lower extremities is passed on to children born from the 3rd to 4th generation. Treatment of hereditary psoriasis is long and requires the systemic use of special drugs to stop the spread of the disease. spread of plaques from the surface of the legs to the trunk and other parts of the body.
- Psoriasis type 2. This is an acquired form of the disease that develops due to the presence of the above risk factors. Patients with psoriasis on the feet are people 40 years of age and older. These dermatological patients often abuse alcohol, eat unhealthy foods, work in factories with hazardous working conditions, or have experienced a stressfully morally difficult situation in their lives. surname. In such patients, the initial stage of the disease is always acute and has a vivid clinical picture. One month after the appearance of the first red spots, the knee and hip joints begin to be affected. It all depends on the position of the arrays.
Prevent
The fact that disease is easier to prevent than cure is no secret.
This saying is absolutely true for psoriasis. To prevent the development of psoriasis, the following recommendations should be adhered to:
- Avoid stress, emotional stress. Have a positive attitude, don't worry about trifles;
- have a healthy lifestyle, do not abuse alcohol, smoke tobacco and moreover do not use drugs in all cases;
- timely treatment of infection foci in the body, strengthening general immunity;
- apply moisturizer to the skin, prevent dehydration and dryness;
- do not ignore such effective means of prevention as folk. Sometimes simply slathering the allergic skin areas with appropriate herbal creams is enough to never hear a diagnosis of psoriasis.
Affected skin care
If there are patches and rashes on the legs, they should be covered with special preparations with moisturizing ingredients. It would be nice if the composition also included anti-inflammatory and immunostimulating agents.
Do not apply the affected skin areas with strong products containing high alcohol. The skin must not lack water.
Special care should be taken to avoid injuring and damaging the skin. It is well known that they cause new rashes, which are not easily cured. Only soft, non-traumatic bath accessories should be used.
Diet
Proper nutrition is of no small importance. Often it is these violations of the diet recommended by the doctor that do not allow the cure of psoriasis for many years.
Alkaline foods in the diet should be two to three times more than acidic foods. Alkaline foods include fruits and vegetables that are not acidic. Alkaline mineral water can be helpful. You should monitor bowel emptying in time, use products that improve intestinal motility
Complications
Complications in psoriasis are characterized by the occurrence of concomitant diseases. The cardiovascular system is most severely affected, often leading to myocardial infarction or coronary heart disease. In some cases, the disease can cause diabetes.
Treating psoriasis on the fingers requires an integrated approach and, most importantly, time. Therapeutic actions are mainly aimed at reducing foci of inflammation. Psoriasis on the hands often spreads to the nails, which shouldn't happen. Otherwise, healing will take longer.
Medical treatment
The treatment must be complex, so the drugs must also be different. Be sure to use:
- Creams and ointments.
- Antihistamines.
- Drugs for the gastrointestinal tract.
- Preparations to improve immunity.
This is the basic treatment that always helps in milder episodes of psoriasis.
Physical therapy
Physical therapy 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 underwent a course of infrared and ultraviolet radiation, acupuncture, and cryotherapy.
Folk method
Traditional medicine is rich in recipes for eliminating the symptoms of the disease and achieving lasting remission. First of all, different baths have proven themselves that:
- with sea salt;
- with herbal decoction.
The bay leaf bath is effective. For cooking, pour 20 gr. decoction with 2 cups of water and boil for 10 minutes over low heat. After the broth has cooled, you need to keep the affected hand or foot in it for at least half an hour.
The skin on the hands or feet affected by psoriasis can be cleaned with juniper tincture, birch tar, or celandine juice. Sea buckthorn oil is recommended for lubricating nails to help keep them strong.
What does foot psoriasis look like?
The initial form of the disease does not cause serious discomfort to the patient. Symptoms are mild itching and redness of the skin. Gradually, the intensity increases and patches of pink or red color appear on the legs. The size of the papules is in the range of 3 - 5 mm, the more they grow, the larger and more interconnected the warts are.
Characteristic manifestations are yellowish or white flakes, which are easy to scrape but the degree of flaking in this case is increased. If peeled off, you will see a red glossy film. Its removal results in the release of a drop of blood, which is medically known as a blood mist.
Psoriasis forms on the soles of the feet, accompanied by uncomfortable itching. The patient cannot resist the urge to brush the affected area. This opens up access to bacterial infections, which further complicates treatment.
Why does psoriasis develop on the legs?
Psoriasis of the feet is a chronic, hereditary skin disease. The development of the disease is facilitated by the influence of pathogenic factors. Factors that lead to the development of psoriasis on the feet:
- Limbs - scratches, cracks, wounds. In people prone to this pathology, they often have inflammation, accompanied by itching, combing of the hair. Against this background, a psoriatic rash appears. These are common causes of psoriasis of the knee joints in children, adolescents, and athletes.
- Skin diseases and abrasions of the feet. Especially the disease often develops against the background of a fungal infection. It is important to wear tight shoes that cause feet to sweat and get injured.
- Metabolic disorders, obesity, diabetes, endocrine diseases, age-related hormonal disorders, pregnancy. Any hormonal imbalance can trigger the onset of the disease.
- Any chronic process and foci of infection lead to intoxication of the body.
- High emotional, mental and physical stress.
- Irregular nutrition, intestinal dysbiosis.
- Immune disorders.
Treatment with folk remedies
Usually, the treatment of psoriasis of the feet is not limited to traditional medicine. Better to join forces with recipes for effective traditional medicine.
Most often, a recipe for decoctions, ointments, baths, compresses are used to get rid of psoriasis.
Decoctions
To prepare a remedy that can relieve acute symptoms of the disease, you will need celandine and oregano leaves, taken in equal proportions, add chopped licorice root to them, so 2 times morewith each of the previous ingredients and drink three times. more chains. All this mixture should be poured with boiling water and kept for a quarter of an hour. Then filter the infusion and drink half a glass twice a day. The best effect can be achieved if psoriasis is just beginning to appear.
Ointment
Birch oil is mixed with olive oil, the resulting mixture is applied to the plaques regularly for maximum effect.
Bathroom
For these purposes, the infusion of celandine is suitable, which will help not only get rid of the rash, 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 process of bathing with celandine should not exceed 10 minutes in time. This method can become everyday.
Compression
Potatoes did well here. To prepare a compress, you will need to grate raw potatoes on the smallest masher. Then the juice is squeezed out and applied to the affected areas, the legs are wrapped with a film or bag on top and a warm sock is worn. The potato compress is kept for several hours, otherwise the effect will not be achieved.
Characteristics of the rash
The clinical picture of psoriasis of the legs manifests itself depending on the course of the disease, or rather its stage.
There are the following stages of psoriasis:
- Initial. The rash in the early stages of the disease looks like acne, has a slightly convex shape. In addition, silvery scales begin to form on each papule;
- Progressive. The rash appears more and more, the papules begin to increase in diameter and join together to form a continuous lesion. This whole process is accompanied by unbearable intense itching;
- Sharp. The disease enters the acute stage with new rashes, while the old ones stop growing, and the peeling process begins;
- Freeze. New elements of the rash are no longer present, and the affected skin areas are completely exfoliated. In place of the previous patches, a pigmented area is formed;
- Regression. At this stage, the disease is characterized by the clearing of the skin from the signs of psoriasis, the general health of the patient improves to a large extent.
Treatment and diagnosis
Diagnosis and treatment of psoriasis of the feet is carried out by a dermatologist, the method is simple and includes a simple examination of the skin, blood tests (general and biochemical). Modern medicine does not have the means to completely cure psoriasis. In some cases, treatment is used to alleviate the condition and relieve symptoms.
It depends on many factors like:
- patient's gender;
- age;
- place of residence (climate zone);
- activities (work, etc. );
- psoriatic lesion stage.
Topical drug treatment
In addition to skin moisturizers, your dermatologist may prescribe topical preparations that are easy to use at home:
- agents containing coal tar, which help slow the growth of psoriatic plaques and keratosis.
- salicylic acid solution allows you to remove and exfoliate with great efficiency;
- Corticosteroids, made in the form of a gel, are applied to the skin and covered with a bandage. This remedy slows down the growth of the formation of new psoriatic plaques.
Systemic medicine
If topical drugs cannot cope with the manifestations of psoriasis, then other classes of drugs will be prescribed.
To treat psoriasis of the feet, a combination treatment consisting of retinoids and light therapy is very often used. As a rule, UV therapy or spot laser therapy is prescribed.
If all the methods mentioned above do not help, drugs that selectively affect the immune system may be indicated.
Psoriasis of the feet is a very uncomfortable disease, but you need to know that it is not life-threatening, but it does reduce the quality of the walk significantly. 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, do not self-medicate - this will help avoid progression of the disease and complications.
How does psoriasis appear on the feet?
The rash with this type of lesion is concentrated on the soles and insteps. They have the classic psoriatic form - areas of inflamed skin, several millimeters above the surface of healthy tissue, covered with gray scales. The development of the 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 dark red. Very often, due to the external manifestations of this form of the disease, it is confused with the development of such diseases as eczema, muscle damage and signs of secondary syphilis. Imaging will help pinpoint foot psoriasis.
Psoriasis on the feet: causes
The cause of psoriasis on the feet is not completely known. Absolute certainty exists only regarding the importance of genetic factors in the occurrence of pathology. All other reasons act only as possible provoking factors. Including:
- weakening of the body's immune forces;
- viral and bacterial infections, in particular, streptococcal infections;
- stress, depression;
- the presence of excessive foot sweat;
- hormonal changes in the body;
- violation of metabolic processes.
Manifestations of psoriasis on the feet: photo
In addition to inflammatory, red skin, in the pathology there are symptoms such as itching, burning, pain with different intensity in the affected area. This creates considerable discomfort for a person, as walking movements are difficult.
Due to the roughness of the cuticle on the feet, the patches do not always peel off, although such a sign may also be present. It depends on the hydrophilicity of the tissues in the patient.
Psoriasis of the feet: treatment
Before appointing the treatment of psoriasis on the feet, the doctor needs to conduct an external examination of the pathological area to be able to distinguish the disease with the naked eye. Today, there is no special method of additional testing in medicine, as the disease has a non-infectious origin and has not been fully studied.
The treatment of psoriasis of the legs is carried out in a complex way, that is, the drug approach is combined with a course of physiotherapy, which can significantly reduce the patient's condition. The use of specific drugs - cytostatics - has occurred with significant progression of the disease. At the early stages of the development of the disease, the drug is used in the form of a topical gel or ointment (sulfuric, salicylic), corticosteroids are prescribed. This is done in order to reduce the negative effect of pharmacological preparations on the patient's body. In addition, a course of treatment with vitamins, immunomodulators and antihistamines is prescribed. Pictures of psoriasis on the feet are widely available on the Internet.
Signs of illness
The initial stage of psoriasis on the feet in most cases is taken by doctors as manifestations of an allergic reaction to some external irritant. Especially if the patient seeks medical help in the summer, when there are a lot of allergens in the environment.
Signs of psoriasis on the feet in the early stages are as follows:
- Small pink rashes or red spots first appear where the skin most often rubs against the inner surface of clothing. This can be the knee, groin or ankle area.
- Skin tumors are always at an early stage with a precise shape with clear boundaries. After 3-5 days, they increase in size and form a single patch of pink-red, oval or circular shape.
- The acne nodules are gradually covered with a white layer, forming keratinized skin cells. These are many scabs that easily come off when touching the surface of the damaged skin.
- At all stages of the early stages of the disease, a person feels intense itching in the skin of the legs. When you try to scratch an itchy area of your body, you will feel intense pain.
- Taking an antihistamine only temporarily relieves the itching sensation, but cannot prevent further spread of the redness and pimples. This is a key factor that shows that dermatological problems are not related to allergic skin manifestations to external stimuli.
Early stages of foot psoriasis
The first signs of scaly lichen on the legs are associated with increased sensitivity to pain, as well as itching.
Depending on each symptom, you can tell which stage we are referring to.
The early stage of this disease manifests itself as a bright red or pink rash.
Initially, the rash is small and minimal on the skin.
Over time, the rash from the individual parts develops into a large, prominent red spot.
Due to this association, psoriatic plaques are formed, which protrude slightly above the surface of the skin. The private area is inflamed with intense itching, tormenting the patient.
After that, the process of shedding of the affected tissues begins.
Symptoms of the disease
Usually, the knees, thighs, feet, and the area near the ankles are affected by scaly lichen on the legs. These areas have 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
Red, slightly raised areas appear on the skin. These rashes become noticeable immediately, because their bright color, which is characterized by an inflammatory process, stands out against the background of clean areas.
They then form a large affected area. The psoriatic patches that appear will then begin to peel off, but if pulled out, they will bleed a little or simply leave a smooth red surface.
What is Psoriasis of the Feet?
This skin disease is not considered contagious, but it causes physical and psychological distress to a person. Psoriasis, which appears once, after treatment may not remember about itself for a long time. Often the disease recurs suddenly for no apparent reason. With psoriasis, there is a violation in the formation of skin cells, their rapid growth. With the onset of the inflammatory process appearing on the leg, a superficial lesion is observed:
- stop;
- feet
- finger;
- hip;
- the areas around the joint;
- nail.
One feature of psoriasis is that its origin is not fully understood, which makes it difficult to treat. Foot dermatitis is aggravated by problems with human mobility. Unfortunately, it is not possible to completely cure the problem of psoriasis. Patients get help:
- relieve painful symptoms;
- slows down the development of rashes on the legs;
- relieve the condition;
- restore working capacity;
- back to a contented life.
The onset of psoriasis can be characterized by the formation of a rash - pink papules on the surface of the skin of the feet. As the disease progresses:
- joint swelling;
- the development of psoriatic arthritis;
- Red;
- dense scaly patches;
- cracked skin;
- unbearable itching;
- bleeding;
- combine individual factors into a common lesion.
The manifestations of psoriasis vary depending on the location of the violation of the skin of the feet. The following features are featured:
- on the hips - large areas with a rash, peeling;
- nails - thickening, scaling, change in color and shape of the nail plate;
- leg joints - inflamed, limited mobility;
- Psoriasis of the feet - the soles of the feet are covered with a thick layer of keratinized cells, cracked, severe redness, increased sensitivity.
Although the disease is common, doctors can't say exactly why it happens. There are provoking factors that cause this skin pathology in the legs and other parts of the body. Psoriasis can start due to:
- genetic predisposition;
- hormonal failure in the body;
- skin trauma;
- excessive hygiene;
- infectious diseases;
- stressful situations.
Medical science believes that the cause of psoriasis lies in the decline of the immune system, disorders in the functioning of epithelial cells. Unfavorable factors can cause foot skin disease, including:
- psychological - emotional stress;
- chemical exposure;
- violation of metabolic processes;
- dry thin skin;
- drunk;
- climate change;
- varicose veins in the legs;
- lipid metabolism diseases.
In order to promptly give first aid to a sick child, it is necessary to make an accurate diagnosis. In childhood, psoriasis can be confused with other skin diseases of the feet. Prompt treatment of a sick child will help save the child from severe symptoms and complications. The appearance of psoriasis in children is a consequence of:
- allergy;
- helminthic invasions;
- lack of vitamins;
- genetic factors;
- failure in the immune system.
Symptoms of the disease in a child are different:
- psoriasis on the feet can be in the form of persistent redness on the surface, which cannot be touched due to pain;
- when the nail is injured, spots similar to a needle puncture are observed;
- in the skin folds on the legs, itchy, flaky, itchy rashes that don't allow sleeping;
- Large areas of red skin with cracks and bleeding are formed on the hips.
A patient's condition and symptoms depend on the stage of psoriasis development. Pathologies that arise on the surface of the legs are always changing over a long period of time. There are several stages in the development of psoriasis:
- initial - the first rash, redness, swelling appear - a favorable situation for treatment;
- progressive - new patches are actively formed, persist, 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 development of the rash stops, scabs appear;
- static - new papules do not appear on the legs, old papules form a layer that gradually peels off, leaving spots;
- remission - the disease ceases, the patches disappear without a trace, all unpleasant symptoms disappear, the patient is well.