 Systemic therapy as treatment for severe forms of psoriasis
Added: 12/04/2005 |
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Still there is no cure for such a condition as psoriasis. Nevertheless, there is a wide range of treatments that may relieve the disease. Among the most popular and efficient treatments are name topical therapy, phototherapy, systemic therapy, biologics method and others. As for the systemic therapy, it presupposes the use of different oral medications.
There is no single treatment which would help every patient diagnosed with psoriasis. That is why, first it is necessary to consult a specialist and to try several kinds of treatment. Only after that the patient will be able to start the treatment or a combination of treatments.
While prescribing the type of treatment to the patient, the doctor takes into account a number of factors. The prescription of the treatment depends on the skin type of the patient, on the location of psoriasis on his body, the severity of the condition, the age, gender and medical history of the patient.
It is worthy of note that such a disease as psoriasis is rather unpredictable. Therefore, it may require an on-going treatment. Nevertheless, natural cycles make the condition either increase or fade from time to time. Thus, the main aim of any psoriasis treatment is to find the kind of treatment which is the most efficient for this particular patient.
There are three main categories of psoriasis treatment.
The first type is topical therapy. Topical therapy presupposes the application of agents directly to the skin of the patient. As a rule, topical therapy is efficient in the cases of mild psoriasis. It helps relieve the symptoms of the condition. Topical therapy usually includes such agents as coal tar, tazarotene, salicylic acid, steroids, calciprotriene and anthralin. Topical therapy is usually represented in the form of ointments and creams.
Another type of treatment is called phototherapy. This procedure presupposes the regular exposure of the skin to ultraviolet light. It is carried out under the supervision of a doctor. The most common patients using this kind therapy are those who have from moderate to severe forms of psoriasis for whom topical therapy has turned out to be ineffective or who have a very large zone damaged by the disease. There are two types of ultraviolet light used for phototherapy. The first one is called ultraviolet light A (UVA). The second one is ultraviolet light B (UVB). The activity of ultraviolet light is aimed at making the rapid growth of skin cells slower. It is worthy of note that UVA and UVB were discovered in the sunlight. That is why it is of paramount importance to limit the exposure to natural sunlight during the procedure of phototherapy.
And the third type of psoriasis treatment is called systemic therapy. Systemic therapy includes medications given as pills or as injections. Systemic therapy is usually applied to those patients who have a severe form of the disease. The medications used for systemic therapy are as follows: acitretin, cyclosporine and methotrexate.
Recently a new method for treating psoriasis has appeared. It is called biologics method. But it is strongly recommended that the method be treated with care. Biologics method can use different agents. But not all of the agents have been approved for treating adult patients with either moderate or severe forms of psoriasis. Biologics method offers a number of agents seeming very promising. Nevertheless, the drugs are not for everyone. That is why biologics method is not recommended to those patients possessing chronic or recurrent infection.
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