Psoriasis, social life is good for sufferers (and also for “lesions” on the skin). Symptoms and treatments – WWN

There psoriasis it is not “just” one skin pathologybut a condition that can seriously compromising psycho-physical well-being of those who are affected. However, not isolating yourself and maintaining relationships with family, friends, partners and colleagues helps you live well with this chronic, inflammatory, non-contagious disease. To remember this, on the occasion of the World Day celebrated on 29 October, is theItalian Psoriasis Association Friends of the Corazza Foundation (APIAFCO) which discloses the data of a survey conducted on over 360 patients.

Chronic disease with many therapies

Psoriasis, from which they suffer approximately two million Italians200 thousand of which have a severe form, is certainly one visible pathology: manifests itself with lesions on the skin and tends to prefer some parts of the body over others (elbows, knees, scalp, lumbosacral region, hands and feet). However, there is also an “invisible” aspect, which goes beyond appearances: both because it can affect other organs besides the skin, and because it can negatively affect the quality of life of patients, exposing them to the risk of stress, loneliness and psychological distress. It is not an infectious or contagious pathology, but is characterized by phases of remission alternating with phases of worsening: psoriasis has a complex nature and it is multifactorial, i.e. genetic, immunological and environmental factors contribute to its development. In some cases, triggering factors such as medications, psycho-emotional stress, physical trauma and respiratory tract infections can aggravate or trigger skin lesions. Furthermore, in recent years psoriasis has been increasingly better delineated as one systemic pathology, i.e. more generalized and associated with various other diseases (mainly of the cardiometabolic type) and can be associated, in a percentage varying between 5 and 30% of patients, withpsoriatic arthritis. If in many cases there is no definitive cure, There are many therapies available today (for severe, moderate and mild cases) which allow you to achieve a previously unthinkable goal: having clean skin, free from reddish and scale-covered patches (typical manifestations of the pathology) and without the itching and embarrassment that often accompany them.

Survey data

The data from the APFIACO survey (in which 369 members from all over Italy participated, with a generational coverage ranging from 11 to 87 years) indicate that the possibility of share anxiety, fears and uncertainties, and receive emotional support and solid therapeutic responses, allows you to approach relationships with greater confidence with the people “who matter”: family, friends, partners, colleagues. According to those interviewed, the wealth of awareness acquired in the APIAFCO community positively influences relationships with others, so that for a significant portion of interviewees (64.2%) the incidence of psoriatic disease in everyday life is important only in some aspects (47 .9%). Unfortunately, this does not apply to a particularly high number of people who declare that this incidence is absolute (33%), with consequent isolation caused by stress, anxiety and psychological distress. Going into detail: nei relationships with familyon the feelings of burden and sadness (26.8%) that of sharing prevails (68.1%), while for what concerns sphere of friendships, the sense of insecurity (26.5%) is dominated by that of acceptance, where psoriasis is indicated as “a life companion to which one has become accustomed” at 41.1%; this last dimension is also present in relationships with world of work (53%), but as a counterpoint there is a decidedly too high percentage of discomfort factors (33.1%).

The initiative will take place on 28 October in Bologna

«Perceiving this sentiment among our members it is a source of great satisfaction, it is the signal that we are going in the right direction with respect to the commitment to support APIAFCO members in the path of knowledge of the pathology within an associative context rich in quality relationships, and – where requested – of support networks and psychotherapeutic support, real antidotes to stress and loneliness» comments Valeria Corazza, president of the association. It goes in this direction «Psoriasis. Let’s talk about it, let’s talk about it. I’m fine and you?», the event celebrating World Psoriasis Day 2023 organized by APIAFCO, which will be held in Bologna on 28 October (3.30 pm) at The Social Hub: it is a “experiential” format» which involves the immediate and direct interaction of the public present with the president Valeria Corazza, the dermatologists Federico Bardazzi and Vera Tengattini, the psychologist Paola Mamone and with the other psoriatic patients who experience the same dimension (clinical and psychological). An opportunity to explain the value ofassociationismcapable of positively impacting the psoriatic patient’s ability to relate to other people, but the positive results in terms of relationships with others must not distract from what happens in the personal sphere of those who experience the illness that (again according to the survey responses) it changed the relationship with one’s body for the worse to 73.5% of those interviewed.