PSORIASIS

Psoriasis is a common illness, affecting at least 2 to 3 % of the French population. It impiges on quality of life-sometimes seriously. Yet more than half of patients do not take proper care of themselves, either because they become disheartened or because the treatments strike them as more restrictive than the psoriasis. Psoriasis cannot be treated, therefore, without placing the patient, not the illness, firmly at the centre of therapeutic negociations.

This Practical Guide explores psoriasis in all its clinical guises. Using highlights from physiopathology, various facets of the illness are reviewed, as is the full complement of hypotheses formulated to try and understand psoriasis.

The clinical characteristics and their variations are expounded with the help of copious illustrations. The ample collection of pictorial material also highlights the salient points of differential diagnosis.

A large part of the work, of course, is given over to the therapeutic management of this chronci illness. Aspects of global management are set out, which include assessing the severity of the psoriasis and the whole discussion that ensues in order to gain acceptance for the treatment best suited to the patient, once all parameters have been taken on board.

The full raft of therapeutic means available to the practitioner is then studied : topical treatments, general treatments (pre-treatment checkup, monitoring, strategy for use, side-effects, combination therapies). Finally, the author showcases the different strategies to be adopted, according to the situation (crisis situation, maintenance treatment, alternate treatments, etc…), the patient (child, fertile woman, patient suffering from another pathological condition) or the site (scalp, nails, face, auditory canals and so on).

Professor Louis DUBERTRET is professor at the Skin Disease Clinic, head of the Demartology Department at Saint-Louis Hospital and Director of the Institute of Skin Research (University of Paris VII).