Psoriasis and its variants

Sana Khan; Arghadip Das; Khalid Mahmood Uddin; Shamail Zia; Areij Khan; Marrium S. Memon; Danial Hassan; Sharmeen Naz; Sarah Khalid

doi:10.21089/njhs.74.0181

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated, inflammatory illness of the skin which is quite common. The typical lesions are well demarcated, flaky and erythematous plaques that are frequently observed on the extensor regions. Psoriasis causes vasodilatation and hyper proliferation of keratinocytes expressed as thickened and erythematous skin, generally covered with silver gray scales. Although the etiology of this disease is not very clear, yet there may be genetic and environmental implications. There are a number of variants of psoriasis which include palm plantar, pustular, erythrodermic, and guttate types. Psoriasis is related to several systemic impediments and coexisting illnesses rendering a great effect on patients. Psoriasis displays coexistence of both autoimmune and auto inflammatory reactions and the stability between the two is important for clinical and histopathological demonstration. Chronic plaque psoriasis shows adaptive immune responses whereas pustular psoriasis displays innate and auto inflammatory responses. Histopathological analysis is the main diagnostic tool for atypical and controversial situations which aids in discerning psoriasis from other dermatoses; biopsy is seldom required for typical psoriasis.