BY SANDRA GUY

While handwashing vigilance stays top-of-mind, watch for itchy plaques, scaly rashes and red or dry patches of skin. You could have psoriasis — and it’s not just a skin disease.

The National Psoriasis Foundation recognizes August as “Psoriasis Action Month” — and Psoriasis’ roots as an autoimmune condition are especially pertinent as the coronavirus rages on worldwide.

Importantly, psoriasis isn’t contagious and cannot be passed through skin-to-skin contact. But an outbreak can last for weeks or months, and it’s a condition that can clear up and then reappear.

In fact, an overactive immune system causes Psoriasis, though its origins can range from heredity to environmental sources such as alcoholism, emotional or physical stress and excessive sunburns and sun exposure.

It affects more than 8 million Americans and 125 million worldwide, and between 10 and 30 percent of people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis. Plaque psoriasis is associated with psoriatic arthritis. Symptoms include painful inflammation of the joints that can lead to stiffness in the mornings and progressive joint damage.

Dermatologists emphasize that psoriasis requires continuous therapy and attention, since there’s no cure.

Treatments come in a variety of options:

• Topical treatments can be applied directly on the affected skin to help with inflammation and irritation.
• Phototherapy, or regular doses of moderate sunlight, may help reduce psoriasis lesions.
• Biologics, or medicines made from substances found in living things. Doctors inject them into one’s skin or bloodstream. The drug blocks part of your altered immune system that adds to psoriasis.
• Phototherapy, or regular doses of moderate sunlight, may help reduce psoriasis lesions.
• Prescription retinoids work by slowing skin growth at the cellular level. They also can reduce dryness and flaking, promote dead-skin cell shedding and slow mitosis, or skin cell division.
• Lifestyle changes such as moisturizing, quitting smoking, managing stress and reducing alcohol consumption may reduce psoriasis. Paying attention to what is in products and switching to chemical-free soaps and cosmetic products can also help with flares and outbreaks.
• Natural remedies such as cayenne, aloe vera, fish oil, peppermint oil, coconut oil, geranium oil, Tea Tree oil, Epsom salts and Dead Sea salt baths may also help ease psoriasis symptoms.

Experts advise testing natural products on a small area of skin first, and talk with your doctor before you add such ingredients to your skincare regimen.