Psoriasis causes cells to gradually accumulate on the top of your skin, leading to red, thick, scaly patches that are very itchy. It is a chronic disease of your immune system which sometimes can be painful.
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Psoriasis Is More Than a Superficial Skin Condition
This autoimmune disease partly occurs when a type of white blood cell (T cell) wrongly strikes healthy skin cells. In that way, those T cells trigger other immune responses which speed up the growth cycle of skin cells which move to the outermost layer of your skin in a matter of days rather than weeks.
The dead skin can’t be removed quickly and it builds up into the thick patches characteristic of psoriases. Things will only get worse as the skin gets more and more inflamed. It will crack and bleed and more than 30% of sufferers develop psoriatic arthritis. Moreover, people with psoriasis are at an increased risk of many other chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and eye conditions and there are also psychological repercussions!
Sadly, people with psoriasis often suffer from depression, social isolation, problems at work, and low self-esteem because the society is avoiding them and view their condition as a contagious rash.
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Vitamin D Is Crucial for Autoimmune Diseases
It is of vital importance that you have your vitamin D levels tested if you have psoriasis. You must maintain levels in the therapeutic range of 50-70 ng/ml year-round because vitamin D is a powerful immune modulator. With this being said, vitamin D is very important for the prevention of autoimmune diseases.
Researchers noted that vitamin D could have important immunomodulatory effects in psoriasis and it might affect on psoriasis on multiple levels like helping to regulate keratinocyte growth and differentiation. Also, it can influence the immune functions of T lymphocytes and other cells. Vitamin D derivates can be used as a topical treatment as well as phototherapy treatment.
Besides these sort of treatments, there are psoriasis drug treatments but they are expensive and risky. Raptiva is one of the drugs which has been pulled from the market because it was increasing the risk of deadly brain infections. Stelara is another psoriasis drug treatment which worked but only for a while and it cost a fortune. The drug Psoralen is one of the most common psoriasis treatments and it is combined with UV light exposure.
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Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels If You Have Psoriasis
The best treatment for psoriasis is exposure to sunlight which will optimize your vitamin D levels. You just have to do it properly and get the vitamin D levels into the therapeutic range. Remember vitamin K2 and Magnesium, because vitamin D is fat-soluble and taking some form of healthy fat with it will also help optimize absorption.