SPEAKER: Psoriasis is a long lasting condition that shows up as thick, red, scaly patches on your skin. How serious your psoriasis is depends on how much of your body is affected, the location of your patches, how well you respond to treatment, and your quality of life. Your psoriasis is severe when it covers more than 10% of your body or happens on your face, palms, or soles of your feet. While the cause is unknown, your immune system and your genes seem to play a role. Psoriasis starts inside your body when your immune system starts attacking healthy skin cells by mistake. Usually, new skin cells are made every few weeks. But with psoriasis, this gets sped up to just a few days. All these extra cells build up on the surface of your skin faster than your body can shed them. When this happens, you get itchy, sore patches called plaques on your knees, elbows, back, scalp, and other places. Plaques are usually thick, raised, and covered with silvery white scales. While there's no cure, there are treatments that can help. For severe psoriasis, a combination of different treatments might work best. The goal of treatment is to ease your symptoms, clear up your skin, and keep your psoriasis from getting worse. [MUSIC PLAYING]
