Good question! Here’s a little bit about scalp psoriasis, to help you figure out the answer. Here at Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center, located in Windermere, Florida, we see a lot of cases of psoriasis, including some on the scalp.
Scalp psoriasis is a common skin condition and responds well to treatment, even when it’s extensive enough to impact large areas of your scalp. If your scalp is persistently itchy–the itch just won’t go away!–that can be a sign of scalp psoriasis. It can occur in small patches that are hard to see, or large reddish patches that are visible to you and others.
Signs and Symptoms
There are other signs to look for, as well. They include flaking, which looks like dandruff; the presence of white or silvery scaling on the skin; a very dry scalp, causing the skin to crack or bleed; itching, burning, or soreness; and temporary hair loss due to scratching. If you’ve ever suffered from psoriasis elsewhere on your body, scalp psoriasis is, as you may expect, more likely.
The triggers of scalp psoriasis vary by individual. Often, environmental triggers like weather changes, cold or dry air will result in a psoriasis breakout, and stress is a common trigger for all kinds of psoriasis, since it is an immune response. That also means that scalp itchiness due to psoriasis can appear and disappear over the course of days or weeks, and severity varies widely among sufferers, from mild to very serious.
How It Happens
Psoriasis is an off-kilter immune response that happens when your body’s immune system tells your skin cells to grow too fast or too often, and the new cells aren’t shed on the surface as usual. Instead, they form quickly and grow in patches on the surface, causing the patches of psoriasis. These can be itchy and painful, and since they’re new skin cells rather than old, dead cells, getting rid of them isn’t as easy as you might hope. Our providers at Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center can, however, lay out a treatment plan to relieve the problem.
We Can Help
Treatment options include medicated shampoos and solutions for scalp psoriasis outbreaks, as well as other treatments for persistent problems, such as injections and light treatments, which has a healing effect on psoriasis of all types. Additionally, if you’re losing hair due to scalp issues, we also can help restore the lost hair and heal the scalp through various treatments
Whatever the problem is, you don’t have to suffer with an unrelieved itchy scalp; there are a variety of treatments and medications available for scalp conditions that cause itching and flaking, or hair loss for other reasons. If you are in the Orlando area and want to find out more, please feel free to contact our medical staff for a consultation at Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center.