How Do You Determine If Your Psoriasis Treatment Is Working?

The Right Treatment For Psoriasis

For people with psoriasis, there are many medicines on the market. 

Working better than others you have tried are many ones available. 

It has also changed when coming to the approach to treatment. 

Suggesting doctors aim for the most clearing possible are the current guidelines. After 3 months of treatment, the goal is to have plaques on 1% or less of your body. 

Helping to write the guidelines was April Armstrong, MD, who heads the Psoriasis Program at the University of Southern California. Their doctors set treatment targets and a timeline for reaching them as she says they help folks with psoriasis. 

What if you’re not meeting your goals or your treatment isn’t helping?

That can happen according to Andrea Neimann, MD, a dermatologist and assistant professor at NYU Langone Health. 

She further states they would like to have people as clear as possible with no or 1% symptoms in a perfect world. They change their treatments until they are clear in case they are not clear at 3 months. 

Weighing the pros and cons of treatment should also be done. Different for each person is this. Where they are happy she explains, it is her goal to get the patients to the point. 

How Long Does It Take?

Trying any treatment for at least 3 months is the best way. To work, you definitely need to give it time. Talk to your doctor about other options if you don’t see a change. 

Neimann was of the opinion that she does track how well the folks keep doing. In this case, are they happy or not, in case they are not, can she make changes? 

On a cortisone cream, she starts folks with mild symptoms, for instance. 

She might add a vitamin D ointment if that doesn’t help. She tries steroid shots or a focussed laser light if that’s not working. 

Needing to mix treatments maybe your doctor. It can take time to find the right ones. The results are worth the wait for most people. Your results won’t be as dramatic as someone with a more severe case keeping in n mind that if you have a few spots. 

Side Effects

Having them are all medicines. If you get too much of it, even sunlight which normally helps psoriasis can make symptoms worse. 

Similar to peeling skin or upset stomach are some mild side effects. 

Including the chance of infections or cancer are others that can be serious. 

Giving better or faster results are strong medicines like methotrexate and biologics. They cause more side effects very often. Costing thousands of dollars a month are also biologics. Moving to stronger medicines only when needed, doctors often start slowly with steroid creams or light therapy. Your doctor may start with medicine like methotrexate or even a biologic if your symptoms are severe. 

Talk to your doctor if side effects make you want to stop taking a drug or never start in the first place. Philip Mease, MD, a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, says you can find a treatment you are comfortable with together. 

He then goes on that to say what’s most important to them is that the beauty of these talks is that people get. 

The Long Haul

A lifelong disease is a psoriasis. To control your symptoms, that means you might always need something. When you have to do it for years even rubbing on an ointment may seem to be too much. 

Neimann then tells us that wanting to take a break are some people. 

Forgetting how bad it can be, they may have had psoriasis for a long time. For all kinds of reasons, they may be worried about side effects. 

Your symptoms come back once you stop your treatment which is the problem. 

Making it less effective, she says is stopping and restarting a treatment. 

Your body may start to build a defence against it when you stop taking a biologic. It may not work as well or at all when you start taking it again for the second or third time. 

What You Can Do

In making your treatment work, you play a big role. 

About your treatment goals and concerns, be honest. Are you OK if your skin is just less red and itchy, or do you want complete clearing? About the side effects or costs, are you worried? For light treatments three times a week can you find the time? 

If you have trouble sticking to your treatment plan, tell your doctor. You can try other things often. 

If you get an infection or have side effects from your medicine call your doctor right away. 

It may help to keep in close touch. Every 3 to 6 months for the first year of treatment Neimann says you should see your doctor. You may want to go more often if you take a strong medicine like a biologic. She then says you can never just disappear. 

The Final Thoughts 

Whatever your doctor asks for, have all the blood work and tests. 

To have your blood pressure and blood sugar checked, see your primary care doctor often. More likely to have other health problems like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity are people with psoriasis. 

Thereafter, Neimann now says who is in charge of your overall health, be sure you have a primary doctor.