Psoriasis Awareness

August is Psoriasis awareness month and we thought we would take a deeper look at this skin condition that affects 125 million people around the world, with the majority of those under 35, to improve understanding about this condition.

WHAT IS PSORIASIS?

Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin condition that causes inflamed, flaky, red or crusty patches on skin, primarily appearing on elbows, knees or scalp but can emerge anywhere on your body. These are often sore or itchy and the severity of this condition will vary from person to person. It’s a chronic condition that changes over time, with people sometimes having periods with no symptoms, mild symptoms or severe symptoms.

This condition is related to the immune system and in this case the immune system is attacking healthy skin cells. This results in an increased amount of skin cells being produced, with this acceleration taking between 3 to 7 days. The normal length of time for skin cells turnover is between 3 or 4 weeks.

It is a common misconception that this is a contagious condition. However, this is not the case. It’s thought that psoriasis occurs due to a combination of genes and external factors which can trigger the condition. These external factors, that can cause a flare up include:

• Stress
• Weather changes
• Medications
• Infections
• Skin trauma
• Smoking or alcohol

TREATMENT:

There is currently no cure to psoriasis, nevertheless, there are treatments that can help reduce the symptoms. These treatments often involve topical or steroid creams and the strength of these will vary depending on the severity. Phototherapy is also used as a treatment, which involves exposing the skin to types of ultraviolet light.

We understand how infuriating this condition can be, affecting self-esteem and mental wellbeing, which is why it’s important to raise awareness and it means a lot to us to have helped some #Tribers that suffer with this chronic condition. We have had feedback from many of our #Tribers that are using our Body Foods as a complementary treatment to steroids or a natural alternative.

It’s also important to consider what the products you are using contain, and look for those that are free from parabens, sulphates and artificial fragrances which can irritate. We carefully chose the ingredients, looking for those that have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, which means it is great for fighting bacteria whilst reducing irritation and itchiness to calm stressed skin. This is why the base ingredient of all of our products is Shea Butter, which is also one of the very few ingredients that is a Humectant, Emollient and Occlusive, which means that it attracts moisture into the skin's cellular level and seals the moisture in, leaving skin soft and smooth.

Let us know what you have tried to help your psoriasis

A fellow Triber

Hannah x