VIDEO: Current treatment options for psoriasis

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There are a number of different treatment options for patients with psoriasis, and they are roughly divided into four different categories. Number one are topical therapies. At number two is oral systemic medications. Those are pills that we take by mouth. And then the third is biologics, or injection-delivered medications, that are typically monoclonal antibodies.

And the last group is phototherapy. So when we're thinking about these larger classes of therapies for patients, it is very important to know that not every medication is right for one patient. And it really depends on the patient's disease severity, what other medical conditions that they have, what other medications they may be on, that we choose a specific therapy that's really tailored for that patient.

Oftentimes, combination therapy can be used, as well. For example, for a patient who may have more moderate to severe psoriasis, a patient may be on a biologic, or this injectable therapy, and then still notice that there's a little bit of patches or plaques left, for example, on the shin area. Then when can also, in combination with a primary biologic therapy, have a topical therapy that can be used to treat that area.

I should also mention, in some cases in the doctor's office, the plaques of psoriasis, if they're very localized and very thick, sometimes the doctor may also inject those areas with the corticosteroids, adjust into the skin spots themselves to help reduce the thickness and the redness in those spots.