Two million people in Italy suffer from psoriasis. Professor Antonio Costanzo, Head of Dermatology at Humanitas, who is a guest in Buono a Sapersi on Rai1, spoke about this pathology.
“Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that mainly affects the skin and is manifested by red patches with silvery scales. Spots may appear in any skin district, although some areas are more prone to the disease, such as the scalp, elbows, and palms of the hands, nails and knees.
In some cases, there may be something more than the skin shape: for example, nail psoriasis may suggest the presence of arthritis; an arthritis that is a consequence of some forms of psoriasis. In these cases, the skin manifestations are not very severe, there is the presence of a few patches that is accompanied by joint pain, especially at the level of the hands,” explained the specialist.
Causes and treatments
“Psoriasis is due to a bad encounter between the genes of predisposition – we know at least 52 – and the environment. Preparedness is therefore the basis and in these individuals it can happen that some factors trigger the disease, such as infection, trauma, stress and some drugs (for example beta-blockers).
Once diagnosed, we have several drugs, some more conventional and others more advanced: the so-called biological drugs, capable of affecting specific points of the disease,” concluded Professor Costanzo.
Watch the interview with Prof. Costanzo from the minute 39.46.
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