Psoriasis affects one in 20 French people who, in general, prefer to experience the disease in silence. Update on the latest advances a few days before World Psoriasis Day on October 29.
It is the most frequent skin disease: three million French people suffer from it, 600,000 new cases each year, of which 20 to 30% are undiagnosed and under-treated. This is not the only injustice: it must be said loud and clear that psoriasis is not a contagious disease and that life should be normal, without special precautions. One should not add to an unpleasant illness for oneself, the mistrust of others.
Annoying and visible symptoms
Psoriasis is manifested by red patches or whitish dandruff that stand out, small signs that are tolerated, a little shamefully, in silence.
Unpleasant symptoms but little talked about, because, in most cases, the disease is not serious, in the sense of threat to life.
It ranges from a simple stain, especially on the elbows or knees, to invading almost 30% of the body’s surface. The unsightliness of affection is not its only drawback. These lesions itch terribly.
Psoriasis is much more than a skin disease; it should be considered as an inflammatory disease that affects the whole body, which explains why there is rheumatism or even inflammation of the walls of blood vessels.
A strong impact on the social life of those affected
An illness as frequent as it is badly experienced which, wrongly, inspires a certain disgust and rejection which sometimes force people to avoid both social and professional activities. Bringing this disease out of the shadows is above all allowing patients to change the way others look at them and to be able to live without fear of rejection.
A survey conducted by France psoriasis shows disturbing figures. Careers blocked, mocked, working people suffering from psoriasis are victims of insidious discrimination in the workplace.
- Up to 70% of working people with psoriasis have been teased about their physical appearance in the workplace,
- 38% of working people with moderate to severe skin psoriasis have already experienced a career blockage,
- 31% have already been made redundant or have not had their employment contract renewed.
On the occasion of the launch of the annual awareness campaign “Psoriasis: Better Living With, Better Living Together” the forum for exchange between patients Psolidaires.fr will be given a facelift very soon.
Dermatologists do not hide their embarrassment about the real origins
The hypothesis most often used makes psoriasis an autoimmune disease; a complicated word, which you will have to get used to. A very simple explanation, for a set of very complicated diseases which nevertheless represent the 3rd cause of suffering, after cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
They have the same mechanism in common: the patient’s defense system, called the immune system, has lost its mind. Autoimmune diseases are soldiers turning their guns on their own camp instead of defending us against viruses, bacteria and other foreign objects.
Psoriasis is not permanently cured
However, there are many treatments to “whiten” skin lesions, and therefore make them inconspicuous, and which will be all the more effective if they are administered at the onset of the disease.
For severe forms or complications such as rheumatism, there are now very powerful drugs, but which are really in the field of specialists because not easy to handle. Medicine had not known such a revolution since the arrival of anti-inflammatory drugs in the 1950s. The results are exceptional; only downside, the cost: more than ten thousand euros per year and for several years. However, there are several drugs and competition must inevitably lower the prices. Second, earlier use can significantly reduce the length of your prescription. Finally, the relief of a disease must be evaluated economically in terms of reduction of work stoppages, hospitalizations and disabilities. A calculation which is not always carried out.
The trail of a vaccine?
More recently, some American researchers think they have made progress in finding a vaccine. Currently being tested in mice, it combines the cucumber mosaic virus (a viral disease that can attack cucurbits) and a protein derived from the tetanus virus. It would be able to stimulate the patient’s immune system to defend against psoriasis.
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