Psoriasis is one of the most common skin diseases. Between 3 and 4% of the French population, or about two million people, are affected, according to different studies. "Psoriasis is a chronic and inflammatory disease that mainly affects the skin, but not only. There can also be joint damage, rheumatoid arthritis. It is too much renewal of the skin in three to four days. explains that there is an accumulation of dead skin, which results in thick red patches ", explains Emilie Sbidian, dermatologist at Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil. Invited Thursday in the program "Sans Rendez-Vous" on Europe 1, she then detailed the different treatments that exist against this disease.
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Local treatment with creams
"Everyone will have a psoriasis cream, based on cortisone and which is therefore anti-inflammatory. There is another type of cream which mixes cortisone and vitamin D, which acts on the too important renewal of the skin. creams have an effect when the patient has a few patches On the other hand, for patients with a lot of affected surfaces, we understand the difficulty of these creams: it sticks, it takes time to apply it, the hair is greasy ... is especially useful for patients with minimal psoriasis. "
Phototherapy treatment
"It is a very good treatment for psoriasis. It is obviously done in a dermatology office. There is a type of phototherapy where we will take a drug a few hours before the session, the sessions last two to three minutes at a rate of two to three sessions per week. It is a very effective treatment, which works fairly quickly with fifteen weeks of treatment. But again, you must be able to free yourself two to three times a week. We also take care not to do too many sessions, otherwise there is a risk of cancer. "
Treatment with methotrexate (one tablet)
"Methotrexate is an anti-metabolic, it makes it possible to decrease the renewal of the cells of the skin. It also decreases the renewal of the other cells of the body, it is therefore necessary to be very careful with this drug. It is necessary to check that the red blood cells and whites work well. It’s a once-a-day, fixed-day medication that will work on psoriasis after two to three months. You have to be a little patient, but it’s very effective. also for other skin conditions like eczema. The side effects are digestive upset for the first few weeks. There are also risks with red and white blood cells, so we do blood checks. "
Treatment with ciclosporin (another tablet)
"When methotrexate does not work, we can give ciclosporin. It is a medicine that we are giving for eczema, and that we will also give in case of organ transplants. We have to wait three weeks for But there are several things to watch out for: not having sleeping infections, not having cancer, not having high blood pressure or kidney failure. Its use is limited but allowed in pregnant women. , unlike methotrexate which is contraindicated. Cyclosporine should be handled with care, the kidney can tire quickly. In general, treatment should be stopped after one or two years. "
Treatment with biomedicines
"Biomedicine treatment has been a great revolution. It started in 2005 in dermatology, these are drugs that will target the protein of inflammation. There are a dozen drugs, it is done subcutaneously (by This is reserved for patients with severe psoriasis, who have failed or who have a contraindication to other treatments. Two reasons for this: these are drugs whose side effects are little known, and which are very expensive , around 10,000 to 20,000 euros per year per patient. "