Psoriasis is a very visible skin disease. Many of those Affected suffer from exclusion. Patient organisations are fighting against the stigmatization of the Sufferers, but also new therapies that can reduce the suffering.
Red spots on arms and legs – so Stefanie don’t want to if the man go with friends to the beach. The 33-year-old hamburger has psoriasis for the past ten years. In the case of of the disease the skin in many Places is red, the spots are often covered with white or silvery scales. Just at night the itching can be large. At 20 to 30 percent of patients, the inflammatory disease affects the joints, says Stefan Schneider, Director of the clinic for dermatology at the University hospital in Hamburg-Eppendorf.
The itching and the pain are not the only complaints. It is often the reaction to the outer appearance, the power to create many of those Affected. The patient will be excluded, says Schneider. You would be referred to, for example, from swimming pools because it is mistakenly accepted that the disease was due to the lack of Hygiene and contagious. Also in the case of a bakery saleswoman was known to him, which was dismissed because she had psoriasis on the hands.
If a man has to get their disease quite well. The 33-Year-old with so-called biologics to treat and respect according to their own information on a healthy lifestyle. As an actress she is on stage or in front of the camera. If you have visible red spots, these would be concealed with make-up. In Fernsehdrehs it was to my relief not a Problem, she says.
Millions of people worldwide is affected by psoriasis
Schneider has not only treated patients in Europe, but also in Cambodia and the USA. The world health organization says the disease occurs more often in people with white skin color. Therefore, 0.09% of the population in Tanzania, in Norway, 11.4 percent. In Germany it is 2 percent, more than 1.6 million people or so.
Many patients with the new treatment are options not known, says Schneider. It had been in previous years, this medical field is a small Revolution. The biologics include proteins, certain messenger substances of the immune system that trigger the disease, to block. The funds were all very good, however, it had to be an individual therapy is found to be hazardous side effects to be excluded. Because the agents act on the immune system can be reactivated, for example, infectious or auto – immune diseases.
Psoriasis is not curable
Biologics could free patients from the psoriasis, said separator, however, it is possible to cure them. The symptoms are not disappearing, as long as the therapy continued. You put the funds, you could possibly quickly. However, the treatment could be limited to a syringe every twelve weeks.
The patient would have to accept that you had the chronic, and often hereditary disease. The expensive biologics are currently used in medium and heavy weight cases. In addition, Doctors continue to use classic and conservative methods such as treatment with UV light or ointments.
Beate sailor has suffered of Psoriasis – as the disease is named after the ancient Greek word for scab (psora) in science. Actually, she wanted to be a classical dancer, says the 61-Year-old and asks: Have you ever seen a dancer with a skin rash?
She had been ostracized in their Childhood and youth in Münster, literally. With the time – as is the case with many other Concerned – more Suffering, including a Arthritis in the joints. Cortisone injection about a light therapy to a trip to the Dead sea, you’ve tried all the treatments, meanwhile, takes biologics. But sailor has already learned a long time to live with the disease. It is since 40 years a self-employed business consultant.