I have found most people know about Rheumatoid Arthritis (and if you haven’t, learn more here & here) and a lot of people may even know someone with Psoriasis, but not many people have heard of Psoriatic Arthritis. Understanding what psoriatic arthritis is, who can get it and what to look out for can help you know when it’s time to see the doctor.
Not unsurprisingly, psoriatic arthritis occurs in patients with psoriasis. But does everyone with psoriasis get it? How do you know if you have it? Once diagnosed, is there anything that can be done to treat it? These are all great questions and topics we go over in the video above.
Despite how common psoriasis is, historically we, as doctors, haven’t done a great job of identifying psoriatic arthritis. We are doing a much better job now, but it’s still important to know what to look for. Both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are inflammatory, autoimmune conditions. Psoriasis shows itself through the skin and psoriatic arthritis affects the skin and the joints.
It is assumed that when someone’s disease is flaring BOTH their skin and joints will be inflamed but that’s not always the case. Many times someone’s skin can flare without significant joint problems, and vice versa. In fact, I find many people don’t pay much attention to their joint pain if their skin isn’t a problem (or hasn’t been a problem recently). But even if your psoriasis is well controlled, new joint pain should always be investigated.
Learn more about facts about Psoriatic Arthritis in the video above and, as always, let me know what you think!
In good health,