ISLAMABAD: Leading dermatologists of Pakistan said on Saturday that as the world marks the International Psoriasis Day, more than 125 million people worldwide are affected with this chronic inflammatory skin disease.
The experts said that there was a need to increase awareness about the effect of this disease on a person’s social life as well as mental well-being.
Civil Hospital Dermatology Department Head Dr Zarnaz Wahid said that for many people psoriasis was still a relatively unknown disease, adding that there was a dire need to spread information about this debilitating disease, dispel common myths and direct patients to seek proper treatment.
According to the Pakistan Psoriasis Foundation, approximately 60 per cent women said that psoriasis interfered with their ability to enjoy life, as compared to only 52 per cent of men.
According to an analysis of survey data from 5,000 psoriasis patients, 20 per cent women said that psoriasis was a very large problem in their everyday lives, as compared to only 12 per cent of men.
Dr Zarnaz said that generally women faced a much more difficult time dealing with the psychological and social issues brought about by psoriasis.
She said that psoriasis patients felt that people in general, including doctors, underestimated the overall impact the disease had on their lives, while adding that it was evident that the disease burden of psoriasis extended beyond the physical symptoms experienced by the patient.
She also said that patients with skin disease were at an increased risk for the development of depression and anxiety. Psoriasis appeared to have a greater impact on the lives of women in comparison to men, she added.
Jinnah Hospital Lahore Consultant Dermatologist Dr Tariq Rasheed said that patients believed that the disease was not curable and would cause them permanent disfigurement in the long run.
He said that the general perception about the disease was that it was a highly infectious disease. Unfortunately, general physicians were mostly unable to diagnose the disease accurately, while they do not follow international guidelines recommended treatment options, he added.
Dr Tariq said that doctors should focus more on patient education and proper counselling. He said that skin problems have generally been the most common diseases seen in primary care setting all over the globe, and its prevalence ranged from 20 to 50 per cent in developing countries, adding that there was a common misperception that skin diseases were somehow less serious than other medical illnesses.
Furthermore, Dr Tariq said that this attitude could be attributed, in part, to the fact that skin disorders were often chronic but not life threatening and so the perceived impact on the patient was more likely to be minimised in the minds of health professional and the general public.
Capital Hospital Associate Dermatologist Dr Uzma Ali said that psoriasis had a bimodal age of disease onset. The first peak was around late teens to early twenties and the second peak was around 50 years, she added. She said that psoriasis was a chronic inflammatory, immune-mediated disease in which one-third of patients suffered under the age of 18 years.
She also said that the exact pathogenesis of psoriasis had not been completely discovered, however, it was agreed by medical practitioners that psoriasis had a genetic basis.
Dr Uzma further informed that there were associated diseases with psoriasis, adding that it could also cause inflammation of the joints, which was known as psoriatic arthritis. She said that almost 10 to 15 per cent of people with psoriasis have psoriatic arthritis, which could even lead to disability and dependence among patients, while aggravating the risk for cardiovascular diseases.
Health experts advised that people suffering from the disease should contact their healthcare provider to seek proper treatment, and the misconceptions associated with this disorder should be removed.
