VIDEO: Clinicians should consider how psoriasis impacts patients’ quality of life

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Clinicians should consider that psoriasis, although it's a skin disease, it can still have a significant profound impact on someone's quality of life. That's something we need to take into account when we're thinking about what level of treatment to give a patient. Someone doesn't have to have psoriasis covering their entire body for it to be significantly negatively affecting their life.

And so even patients who don't have 10%, 20% body surface area, even patients who have less than that deserve to be on a good treatment that keeps their psoriasis adequately controlled to their satisfaction. And we have great therapies that can get patients there. And I think it's important to sort of consider where the psoriasis is at and how that might be impacting a patient.

Scalp psoriasis may not cover a large surface of the body area if it's just on the scalp. It could still be quite itchy and uncomfortable and difficult to hide because of the flakes. Psoriasis on the hands and feet, again, if it's just there, it's not a large body surface area. But at the same time, is a very difficult, painful, life altering area to have psoriasis that can make physical activity, walking, running, using someone's hands very, very difficult.

And then also just kind of being aware that some patients with psoriasis may have psoriatic arthritis, so it's important to sort of ask about those signs and symptoms of psoriatic arthritis, predominantly pain, stiffness in their joints, their hands, their feet, stiffness or pain in their lower back. Especially pain, stiffness that's worse earlier in the morning. We have some early evidence that patients with psoriasis may be at slightly higher risk for cardiovascular events.

And so we wanna make sure our patients with psoriasis are connected with their primary doctors and that they're having their regular yearly checkups to mitigate some of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.