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Psoriasis is an immune-mediated disease (a disease with an unclear cause that is characterized by inflammation caused by dysfunction of the immune system) that causes inflammation in the body. There may be visible signs of the inflammation such as raised plaques (plaques may look different for different skin types) and scales on the skin. (National Psoriasis Foundation)
According to global report on psoriasis by WHO, psoriasis affects people of all ages, and in all countries. The reported prevalence of psoriasis in countries ranges between 0.09% and 11.43%, making psoriasis a serious global problem with at least 100 million individuals affected worldwide. Psoriasis has an unpredictable course of symptoms, a number of external triggers and significant comorbidities, including arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease and depression.
Treatment of psoriasis is still based on controlling the symptoms. Topical and systemic therapies as well as phototherapy are available. In practice, a combination of these methods is often used. The need for treatment is usually lifelong and is aimed at remission.
There are three major forms of therapy – topical therapy, phototherapy, and systemic therapy . Treatment is based on psoriasis severity at the time of presentation.
Treating the skin symptoms is not sufficient to control this complex disease, which has unpredictable and varied manifestations and associated diseases.
Zuowen has noticed that the areas of psoriatic lesions tend to have reduced sweat rates while the areas with normal sweat function are less likely to develop psoriatic lesions. Sweat disfunction is the topical manifestation of a systemic imbalance, and psoriasis is to some extent the result of sweat disfunction. He believes sweating to an appropriate degree is pivotal in psoriasis treatment, the key is to sweat, mildly but not excessively. Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen says, ‘其在皮者,汗而发之 Those in the skin, cause sweating and effuse them. ’ Based on this theory, he comes up with a tailored treatment plan, which includes constitutional differentiation, exercise that involves mild sweating, acupuncture, herbs, and diet, to help improve both skin condition and systemic symptoms.