People who suffer from psoriasis have scaly reddish spots on their skin. These spots can be similar to rash, so people often worry that they may be infected with the ailment or “grant” it to someone else. So, is psoriasis contagious? Be calm, psoriasis is absolutely not contagious. You do not catch the ailment if you touch anyone suffering from psoriasis. This ailment is an autoimmune one, meaning that it emerges due to internal reasons, and not because of external infection, as will be discussed further.
Causes of psoriasis ailment
The main symptoms of the ailment are located on the skin, but they are caused by the internal state of the body. The immunity of an individual suffering from psoriasis is too much responding to various stimuli, that causes external symptoms.
Sensitive immunity of such people makes cells of the skin grow much quicker than usual so scaly patches emerge on the skin area. There are a lot of variations of the ailment, but the most frequent of them is plaque psoriasis. Skin lesions often emerge on the elbows, knees, back, or hairy areas of the head (in situation of scalp psoriasis), but they may occur on any body part. These spots may itch, bleed, and cause other unpleasant sensations. Some types of psoriasis are characterized by little reddish spots or bumps filled with pus.
In addition, nails on the hands/feet can also often be affected. Psoriasis can also cause inflammatory processes in the joints.
How do people develop psoriasis?
Scientists have discovered that some of the genes are responsible for the occurring of psoriasis.
Therefore, if in your family there is a person suffering from psoriasis, the risk that you may have psoriasis increases, because you can have analogous genes. Even if people have the “right” set of genes, some other factors can also cause the ailment. Among them are: infections such as sore strep throat, bad sunburn, mechanical injury or irritation, rubbing pressure on the skin, abusing of soap and washing substances etc. Psychological stress, some medicaments, as well as cold weather (that can lead to cracked and dry skin) also can be triggering factors. However, being near the ailing individual can’t be a cause or a trigger of the ailment.
If some factor triggers the ailment, the latter becomes long-lasting and chronic condition. It means that psoriasis will last during all life in most people. But they can control signs of the ailment by means of medicaments and other remedies.
Some words about psoriasis misconceptions
Before healthcare professionals discovered true causes of the ailment, the latter was often confused with other disease called leprosy. Individuals with psoriasis were considered infectious. Nowadays we know exactly that psoriasis isn’t contagious, and you cannot be infected from touching other individual. You also cannot get the disease from the kiss, use of towels, swimming in the pool, or sexual relationship.
People fall ill from bad genes rather than from poor hygiene, food, lifestyle habits or any other factors. They do not receive it from other individuals and cannot be carriers of the infection.
Despite this, in a society there is a lot of stigma with regards to this ailment. People with psoriasis may feel discomfort when other people look at their skin and avoid physical contacts, so they often hide psoriatic plaques under their clothes.
If you suffer from this ailment, you may put a stop to the myths and misconceptions about the ailment. Discuss “is psoriasis contagious?” question with your family, friends or acquaintances. And if you know individuals suffering from psoriasis, do your best to let them know that you do not avoid them, and that their illness does not influence your opinion about them.