Does itching psoriasis make it worse?

If you’ve ever experienced psoriasis, you know how uncomfortable and bothersome the itch can be. Scratching that itch may give you some momentary relief, but does itching psoriasis make your condition worse in the long run? Let’s find out!

What is Psoriasis?

Before we dive into whether or not scratching makes psoriasis worse, let’s first define what psoriasis is (Psst! Did I just use one of my bolded phrases already? Wink wink.). Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by patches of red, inflamed skin covered with silvery white scales. These itchy-painful patches often appear on elbows, knees, scalp and lower back.

Why do we Itch?

Now that we have a brief idea about what psoriasis is all about; why do we feel an urge to scratch actually? (There goes another bold sentence!)

When something irritates our skin cells like insect bite or dryness due to cold weather etc., they release histamines which indicate our brain that there’s irritation to such part of skin/body where these are released & send strong signals throughout its nerves.. Basically itching aims for two primary purposes here:
– To remove debris from our body surface
– For Second line immune defence i.e., signalling us “Hey! SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT!”

Our brain works really hard when it comes to sensing any sort of instability within our body or bodily functions – this includes identifying these types of unfamiliar stimuli.

For people suffering from chronic conditions like dermatitis (inflammation on akin) causing red rashes or in particular case “psoriasi”; these impulses only heighten aggravations for longer extent than usual .

So needless to say; SCRATCHING OFF THE PSORIASIS PATCHES MAY JUST BE A TAD BIT ADDITIONAL AGGRAVATING as compared to other conditions.

The Vicious Cycle of Scratching

As mentioned earlier; scratching may give temporary relief by removing the feeling of “that itch” for a certain time period.. (Yay! Another bold sentence!). However, it is usually followed by an increasing urge and satisfaction on one hand but consequences like:
– breaking down of tight skin scales & layering under them.
– May lead to bleeding or infections when scratched excessively beyond not only itching part but also to surrounding area when psoriasis becomes uncontrollable.

That leads us back to our first question—does itching make psoriasis worse? Well, yes and no. Itching itself doesn’t necessarily worsen psoriasis in terms of severity; However, it can damage the skin that is already affected due psoriatic flare-up and make matters even worse than they were before. This means you should do your best to avoid scratching those pesky patches whenever possible.

Alternatives to Scratching

Now that we know how bad excessive scratching could be – here are some alternatives for you all –
1. Treat Your Psoriasis Symptoms Accordingly:
And foremost thing’s foremost- let’s not forget treating why these patches appeared initially… Depending upon what type of treatment suits you – this way symptoms will appear less often leading lesser urges/desires resulting less into itching/scratching sessions.
2.Moisturize After Taking a Bath/Shower:
Psoriatic patches result from dryness so always try keeping yourself hydrated with medicated creams lotions/gel ointments without steroids prescribed/or recommended applying twice daily after thorough showering/bathing sessions.
3.Cold Packs Instead Of Heaters:
It helps reducing inflammation in order reduce potential irritation while using such products which maybe hazardous e.g fireplace z especially during winters-season being their peak – COLD SHOWERS ARE A BLESSING!
4.Avoid Skin Drying Products:
Alcohol based items products or fragranced soaps can easily get absorbed drying out not only epidermis but much more deeply; which leads to psoriasis becoming even weaker easier target for scratching.
5.Exercise and Maintain Healthy Body Weight:
Exercising can help in detoxifying the skin also helps balancing immunity system which leads reducing hypersensitivity against such stimuli with better body weight maintenance as lesser fat cells means less inflammation overall.

The Bottom Line

While itching may provide temporary relief, the damage it causes (yet another bolded phrase! Woohoo!) outweighs any benefits you might get from a good scratch. Not being harsh here- sorry if your satisfaction lies in doing just that – we’d rather recommend giving try to above mentioned alternatives ways – then go on give yourself another break with healthy scratching once over itchiest part of day!!!

So what have we learned? Scratching psoriasis patches isn’t the best idea; flaunting healthy glowing & happy looking Psoriasi-free-skin is achievable by taking care minimizing its associated symptoms effectively thru healthier measures. Taking due diligence in terms of sufficient hygiene practices and mindset will eventually allow all our beautiful readers undisturbed nights free of sleepless & disturbed itchy sessions.

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