Psoriasis in Children: What It Is and How It Affects Them
Although psoriasis is a disease that normally occurs in adults, it also affects children. You may ask, what things should I know about psoriasis in children?
If your child comes to you with a red and silver spot, it can be a sign of psoriasis. Other symptoms include pain and itching.
The first thing to know about this disease is that it isn’t contagious. Therefore, you don’t need to separate your son from the rest of the family or his friends.
However, although it isn’t contagious, people might be repulsed by seeing it. Curing your child of this disease is important both psychologically and emotionally.
What is psoriasis?
This is a chronic skin condition that’s associated with the immune system. Despite not being contagious, it can be hereditary.
People often recognize it by inflammation of the skin. In addition, it turns a reddish color with plates or grayish scales that grow little by little.
Areas affected by psoriasis
The scales that psoriasis causes can be of different sizes. Therefore, your child could have it in a small area and no one would notice. At the same time, it could also affect a large part of his body.
The most frequent areas where it usually appears are:
- Scalp: usually with hair loss in the affected area.
- Face: frequently in the jaws and cheeks.
- Elbows and knees.
- Nails.
In addition, it can show up in other parts of the body. In children, most of the time it looks as if it were a splash.
Causes of psoriasis in children?
It’s still unclear why children get psoriasis. However, we do know it has a strong connection to the state of the child’s immune system.
This is because the T lymphocytes, whose mission is to protect the body, attack the skin. They treat the skin as if it had a wound or infection.
As a result, the skin cells rapidly change. This results in scales on the skin. However, some possible reasons are:
Stress
Despite their young age, children could be suffering stress for different reasons. It could be their relationship with classmates or siblings, school or sports, or other reasons.
“However, although it isn’t contagious, people might be repulsed by seeing it. Therefore, curing your child of this disease is important both psychologically and emotionally.”
Cold
Excess cold can also cause psoriasis in children. This is because infants tend to stay at home more when it’s cold. They aren’t being exposed to the sun, which is good medicine to control psoriasis.
Genetics inherited from parents
Although it’s not proven that it’s passed down from parents, there are some important statistics. If you suffer from this disease, your child is 50% more likely to suffer from it as well.
Skin irritations
If your child has experienced burns, was cut while playing, got scratched from animals or gets rashes, you must be very careful. All these skin irritations increase your child’s chances of having psoriasis.
How to cure psoriasis in children
Unfortunately, psoriasis doesn’t have a cure so far. It’s a chronic disease that can disappear and reappear when you least expect it. Don’t be scared: there are many treatments to help control this disease in your child.
These are some of the treatment methods:
- If the psoriasis is mild, you can use moisturizers or oatmeal baths. These are very helpful for itching and irritation. In fact, this method is great for babies.
- Exposure to sunlight is key to alleviating psoriasis. However, beware that too much sun could actually make it worse.
- Phototherapy. This is where the child receives artificial light along with antibiotics to eliminate bacteria faster.
Remember: you need to be at your children’s side to help them develop good self-esteem. In addition, you need to help them learn to live with this condition.
It’s important to do what the doctors tell you. This way, it’s easier to fight against it.