Questions in The Dermatology Forum
are being answered by Dr. A. Rockoff, a board certified dermatologist, affiliated
with Tufts University School of Medicine.
Subject: sudden reversal Topic Area: Psoriasis
Forum: The Dermatology Forum
Question Posted By: Lauren on Tuesday, February 01, 2000
At the onset of a year of joint pain, (severe hip), lifelong
patches of psoriasis vanished. I'm thiry four, female. Every fall since
age 14, I have experienced a "flare" of psoriasis. Tiny dots blossom
into dime size lesions, these can be so wide spread that they eventually
run together, making ever larger areas. There have been times when my
body was so covered in this , that you could not place a hand anywhere
on it without touching a patch. Spring, early tanning, March to May
would see it recede. Never completely gone. In addition to this, I have
had solid kneecap and elbow patches since age 15. Now it's all gone.
Not one spot. I have seen a rheumatologist about the hip pain, but nothing
proves out. They feel this can't be psoriatic arthritis since the psoriasis
has vanished. Do you have any suggestions as to why the sudden disappearance?
Obviously, this is an end run at the cause of the hip pain. A comment
on either is welcome. Thank you, Lauren
Answer Posted By: Derm M.D. ASR
on Tuesday, February 01, 2000
Lauren:
Psoriasis (and a lot of other conditions) do
weird things: they falre up for no reason and disappear the same way. I
would take the respite as a gift for as long as it lasts.
As you
your hip pain, just because the skin psoriasis is in remission doesn't
mean you don't have psoriasis. While I am no expert on the
classification of arthritis, I don't see why your skin clearing would
automatically exclude the diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis.
In
any case, the skin and joints proceed on separate "tracks"--you treat
the symptoms of whichever are prominent.
