Psoriasis treatment

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated skin disease that is associated with various factors, including genetics, stress, infections, and environmental triggers. Numerous treatment options exist for plaque psoriasis including topical therapy, phototherapy, systemic therapy, and biological therapy. In order to select a treatment for a patient, a clinician must consider many aspects. First, one must assess the impact and burden of the disease on a patient as well as a patient’s expectations from therapy. Other important factors to consider include the severity of skin disease, location of psoriatic plaques, comorbidities and presence of psoriatic arthritis, efficacy of different treatments, potential side-effects, safety, and cost. In this chapter, an evidence-based review is presented on the treatment armamentarium for psoriasis as well as new biological treatments and those under investigation. In order to guide practitioners, several treatment algorithms are provided and others are referenced from the literature.