Topical treatment for Psoriasis

The exact cause of psoriasis is still not known. Some people would consider it as a genetic problem; some would label it as an autoimmune problem and some would blame issues like faulty gut health, leaky gut syndrome, fat malabsorption, Candida as a reason for psoriasis development.

Whatever be the reason, topical treatment is an important part of psoriasis healing. Either it is a coal tar based shampoo or a salicylic acid based cream. If you turn to natural solutions, then coconut oil, aloe vera gel, neem oil, black cumin seed oil are some of the options that people are using to manage their psoriasis.

What is topical treatment of Psoriasis

The treatment medicines which are applied directly to the skin are known as topical treatments. For example-creams, shampoos, oils. Almost all the people having psoriasis do consider these topical treatment options as an important strategy to manage their condition.

• These topical treatments help all of us (having psoriasis) to enjoy a comfortable social life by reducing the number of stares at our psoriasis patches.
• By using these creams, oils and shampoos, we can reduce the visible impact of psoriasis so that we don’t feel hesitant in mixing up with people around. Whether it is a social gathering or going for a date or any other public meeting scenario, topical treatments always help to reduce our over consciousness about psoriasis patches.
• If you are experiencing a psoriasis flare up or break out, then also these topical treatments help us tremendously to manage our psoriasis to keep the life going smoothly.

Why these topical treatments ALONE can’t heal your Psoriasis

As explained above, topical treatments, without any doubt, are an important part of psoriasis management. But, to depend solely on these topical treatment solutions is not a good idea because psoriasis is an INSIDE-OUT issue. These psoriasis patches on your skin are just a reflection of something wrong inside your body. Hence, just taking care of these psoriasis patches would not prove effective in the long run. Sooner or later, you would need to work on your whole lifestyle in a holistic way to make peace with your psoriasis.

In my opinion, which I derived from my own experience, topical treatments ALONE can’t help you to heal/manage your psoriasis.

Why would I say this?

When the whole pharma world is filled with numerous topical treatment solutions for successful treatment of psoriasis, why I would make such a statement that can raise many eyebrows?

Let me tell you my own story. I think, only then I would be able to defend and justify my statement.

I developed psoriasis at the age of 21 and none of my family members had ever heard of psoriasis before I developed it; hence can’t blame my genes.

Chronic constipation, indigestion, irregular food habits and a phase of depression just before the development of psoriasis- all these symptoms compel me to believe that accumulation of body toxins might be the reason for leaky gut syndrome, fat malabsorption, Candida and eventually psoriasis.

Initially,I got scalp psoriasis and psoriasis flakes on my back and knees. Dermatologists prescribed me a coal tar based shampoo, a salicylic acid based topical ointment, a multivitamin dietary supplement and methotrexate tablets. All these topical treatments were helping me to clear my existing skin lesions. But, everyday in the morning, I would see new fresh lesions on various parts of my body which were psoriasis free till previous night.

Hence, I was very clear that all these dermatologists prescribed medicines (external and internal) were just only suppressing the external psoriasis lesions and there was no control on further psoriasis development.

It was something like “Coating the outer walls of your building with new colors every time without getting rid of dirt accumulated inside the building”

I contacted two dermatologists and prescriptions of both of them were quite similar- a shampoo, a topical ointment, methotrexate tablets and multivitamin dietary supplement capsules.

After finishing with dermatologists, I come across a few Homeopathy and Ayurveda practitioners and experience short term results only. Gradually, I got my body covered with psoriasis lesions from head to toe.

Now, since June 2014, I am trying to manage my psoriasis by holistic healing concept. Holistic healing concept comprises of:

• Positive changes in diet
• Positive changes in lifestyle
• Consuming natural herbs and supplements
• Regular exercise/ yoga/ pranayam
• Use of natural oils and shampoos as a topical treatment to reduce the itching

I am almost 75-80% clear now and the process of healing continues. Also, I am exploring further new ways of psoriasis healing because psoriasis have a common tendency of getting resistant to various treatments with time. It means – a treatment working splendidly well today may stop working at all tomorrow. Hence, we need to explore newer and better options of making peace with my own psoriasis in a holistic way.

Now, after coming across my story, I hope you can understand that depending solely on the creams, oils and shampoos can’t help you heal your psoriasis. You need to work on your diet and lifestyle in an intelligent way to re-align your body metabolism in such a way that all the body parts do their work smoothly and remains in harmony with each other.

Topical treatments ALONE are not effective because:

• Topical treatment for psoriasis would only suppress the physical symptoms for the time being without doing much to heal the internal body matters.
• These topical ointments and shampoos would not restrict psoriasis from spreading to new areas of your body. So, topical treatment for psoriasis would prove almost useless for a person having high coverage of psoriasis flakes.
• Also, depending solely on topical treatment (and not doing anything to resolve internal body matters) would not spare you from various psoriasis generate possible complications like -Psoriasis arthritis, conjunctivitis (eye infection involving redness of the eye), obesity, heart diseases like diabetes.

Steroids based topical treatments vs Natural topical treatments

At present, most of the people having psoriasis use steroids based topical treatments. These are based on coal tar, salicylic acid, corticosteroids (like hydrocortisone and fluocinonide), calcitriol and various others. Being an engineering professional having psoriasis, I can’t collect any more names of steroids. Please pardon me for that 🙂

When we say steroids, the first thing that comes to our mind is- Side effects. Psoriasis is a skin condition having no cure, but can be managed successfully to an extent where it doesn’t bother you much in enjoying your life. Hence, to manage psoriasis, you are supposed to use the topical treatments for almost the whole life. In such a scenario, using steroids based creams and shampoos is not a good idea at all for obvious reasons (side effects). As we all know, psoriasis is very resistant in nature to various treatments. Hence, there is a high possibility that a steroidal topical cream or shampoo working very well today may not prove that much effective after some time. In that case, you would need to look for some other steroidal product with more powerful chemical composition which would prove more harmful to your body in the long run. Hence, steroidal topical treatment is not a good idea to manage psoriasis.

There are natural alternatives available against these steroidal medicines like virgin coconut oil, aloe vera gel, neem oil, black cumin seed oil etc. These natural topical treatment options are no less effective than steroids. It is my very own experience. And, the best thing about these natural products is that- you can use these products for a lifetime without any side effects.

Various Natural topical treatments

Click here to read: Virgin coconut oil for Psoriasis

Click here to read: Aloe vera gel for Psoriasis

Click here to read: Neem oil for Psoriasis

Click here to read: Black cumin seed oil for Psoriasis

Conclusion

Psoriasis is a skin condition having no cure, but can be successfully managed to an extent that it doesn’t restrict you from living a good quality life. Topical treatments are an important part of psoriasis management. Choosing natural topical oils, creams and shampoos is a welcome idea here instead of using steroids based creams and shampoos.

But, depending solely on the topical treatments doing nothing is sort out the internal body matters is a bad strategy. From my experience, topical treatment for psoriasis only suppress the physical symptoms of this stubborn skin condition for the time being. We should rather opt for a holistic approach (inside-out healing) to deal with psoriasis on day to day basis.