Science of Skin

[Title Card]
Psoriasis Causes and Triggers
A panel featuring Dr. Mark Lebwohl and Dr. April Armstrong

Moderator:
Dr. Lebwohl, could you talk us through the
underlying cause of disease a little bit?

Dr. Lebwohl:
Sure. So, you know what you see is on the
surface of the skin, but go deeper down…

Dr. Lebwohl:
…and in the skin there’s an immune cell called
a lymphocyte, and actually in that cell there’s
DNA, genes that you inherit from both parents…

Dr. L speaking

Dr. Lebwohl:
…and if you get the right combination of genes from both parents, it tells that cell to overreact to certain stimuli. The kind of stimuli that triggers psoriasis are varied.

Dr. Lebwohl:
One of them is absence of sunlight. Winter is a common trigger. One of them is traumatizing.

Dr. Lebwohl:
If somebody with psoriasis has surgery they’ll end up with psoriasis in the line that’s cut, sometimes.

Dr. Lebwohl:
Normal skin makes itself over, as you’re sitting here, roughly every 28 to 30 days.

Dr. Lebwohl:
So, you’re shedding little cells that you can’t see because they’re very small.

Dr. Lebwohl:
Psoriasis skin is multiplying so quickly that the cells which are stuck together don’t have time to separate during that 28-day journey, and they’re stuck together…

Dr. Lebwohl:
…which is why you see these big scales falling off. That’s psoriasis.

Moderator:
So, Doctor Armstrong, Doctor Lebwohl talked about some of those triggers.

Moderator:
Are there other triggers?

Dr. Armstrong:
Yeah. Other triggers include things like infection,

Dr. Armstrong:
…for example there’s strep infection is known to be one of the triggers that can lead to the development of a particular type of psoriasis and we do recognize that.

Dr. A speaking

Dr. Armstrong:
And I would say that a lot of my patients report that if they start to experience significant stress more than our usual daily dose of stress, that they would notice that their skin would break out.

Dr. Armstrong:
The trigger may be different from patient to patient. And it is important that…

Dr. Armstrong:
…they recognize that as well. So just because someone says, well, this triggers my psoriasis, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be the same trigger for you. And also the triggers can evolve over time as well.

END FRAME:
On-Screen Super
Discover more information about psoriasis triggers on this page.