PSORIASIS  - AN HEREDITARY CONDITION

     Our bodies begin as a single cell that results from the union of a female egg and
a male sperm.  Soon after the single cell has formed it divides in two.  Shortly thereafter,
the two cells divide into four, the four cells divide into eight, etc.  Pretty soon you have a
people.  Somehow through this growth process, the spine is laid down at the right time, the
brain grows in the right place, the nerves go to the arms and legs.  The entire gut forms and
moves material from the mouth through to the rectum.  The kidneys form and make urine
that is drained into the bladder and then to the outside and the skin grows over the entire
body forming some special areas such as fingernails and sweat glands and hair.  The whole
process is awesome to contemplate.

     As amazing as it sounds, the entire instruction manual for how to grow from one
cell into a full sized human is contained in the nucleus of that first one cell and consists of
approximately one billion letters in just the right sequence to grow a human.  If the letters
are changed around in very minor ways, there might grow a raccoon, or a snake or a fish
or a tree.  The instruction manuals for those entities all begin in a single seed or a single
egg.

     Anybody that has ever read a manuscript knows that there are typos.  There is even
bad grammar once in awhile.  There are misspellings in the words.  In a manuscript,
a reader can usually figure out what the author is trying to say.  But if a mistake appears
in the genetic code on how to make a human being, a huge number of heredity diseases
could result.  Examples include a disease called sickle cell anemia in which only 3 letters
out of a billion are put in backwards.  There results a terrible blood disorder that leads
to early mortality and extensive sickness along the way.  An equally simple mistake occurs
in a condition called Albinism in which the person has no pigment.  The instructions on
how to make melanin to turn the skin brown is not contained in the genetic code of the
albino and the person has a totally white body with inability to tan and pink eyes just like a
rabbit.  These individuals can be badly damaged if they get in the sun because they have no
protection from the suns radiation.

     While the genetic abnormality in certain diseases has been identified, that is not
true for most of the hereditary diseases that we know.  An example would be the disease
psoriasis in which the person develops oval shaped, reddened, scaly plaques about as
thick as the cardboard on the back of a standard notepad.  The plaques may be small or as
large as 2-3 inches in diameter.  These plaques may itch or burn or often times have no
sensation at all.  They may cover as much as 50% of the body or just a few spots and be of
little concern.  The plaques tend to occur on pressure points such as around the belt line, on
the elbows, on the knees or other places where there tends to be constant irritation to the
skin.  Sunshine directly on the plaques tends to let them resolve and go away.  Psoriasis is
often much improved in the summer months.  The amazing part of psoriasis is that plaques
that are quite scaly and red and raised may have absolutely normal skin immediately next
to them with no apparent reason why the plaque occurs where it does and does not spread.

     Psoriasis seems to be a disease that is permitted by hereditary factors and yet in
certain people it is not expressed and in other individuals it can be expressed intensely.
Also in a puzzling manner, the condition seems to get better and worse without any
factors that a person can identify.

     In years past, treatment has involved the application of cold tar and various
oils made from cold tar.  These tended to work unpredictably doing very well in
some individuals and not at all in others.  Currently, one of the better commercial
preparations is called ExoRex and is available without a prescription through the local
pharmacies.  It is useful for individuals who only have a few plaques that are in bothersome
areas that the person  would like to have cleared up.

     When psoriasis involves a major portion of the body surface, cold tar derivatives
are not practical.  In these cases, advantage is taken of one of the basic properties of
the psoriasis plaque. Specifically, the cells in a psoriasis plaque seem to be growing 10 x
the normal rate and thus they are very susceptible to “chemotherapy”.  It was found
several years ago, that an anti-leukemia drug called methotrexate taken once a week
can completely clear psoriasis plaques.  If the medication is followed carefully in the
clinic, side effects are usually minimal and reversible if they do occur.

     Another method of treating psoriasis involves taking a pill that collects in the
psoriasis plaque and then sitting under an ultraviolet light.  The pill sensitizes the cells
in the psoriasis plaque and makes them very sensitive to ultraviolet light thereby turning
off the rapid growth the plaque was doing.  This is the so called PUVA technique.  This
technique is somewhat more expensive and requires a special ultraviolet light of
tanning bed.
 
    With the help of the healthcare professionals at your local clinics, treatment for
psoriasis is available.  Resistant cases or more severe problems can be referred on to
dermatologists if the basic treatments outlined above are ineffective.