Skin Diseases Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Skin Diseases - Research Paper Example The symptoms of Psoriasis skin disease may also include having ridged, thickened and pitted nails in addition to the person experiencing swollen and stiff joints. This symptoms appearing on the skin can be represented by a few spots of scaling but can also spread to cover extensive areas of the skin surface (Langley, Krueger and Griffiths, 2005). Data on Psoriasis skin disease indicates its prevalence differs according to countries, age, gender and the social and economic status of individuals. For children (those of age eighteen and below), prevalence vary from country to country were in Europe, Parisi, Symmons, Griffiths and Ashcroft (2013) report 0.71 percent. The authors also report prevalence of 2.15 percent in Italy for 13- to 14-year-old children and 0.71 percent for German. In adults, prevalence of psoriasis was found to be higher than in children where the United Kingdom about 1.30 percent, Croatia 1.21 percent towards end of 1980s and Norway had a prevalence of 3.10 percent as per a study in 2008. For adults in the US, prevalence of psoriasis ranges between 2.2 percent and based on studies between 2004 and 2009 with data from African Americans community showing prevalence of 1.3 percent in a 2005 study. Psoriasis is caused by an abnormality in the genetic composition of the patient with multiple genes being involved. The studies in the genes that cause psoriasis is limited with the exact location of the genes not yet determined. In psoriasis diagnosis, the doctor does a differential diagnosis to eliminate infections such as lichen planus, inea infections and pityriasis rosea based on the fact that psoriasis can be distinctively identified based on the skin having spots that are circumscribed, circular and with plaques having grey or silver dry scale (Langley, Krueger and Griffiths, 2005). Since psoriasis is a genetic skin disease, there is no specific medication for the disease but its symptoms can be minimized by