Skin rashes are very common, sometimes you get an allergic reaction to the food you eat or something in the environment can also trigger a skin rash. But, when that skin rash doesn’t go away and you have psoriasis, it can be bothersome. Unfortunately, you are not alone because 125 million people around the world have psoriasis too.
When you have psoriasis, your skin cells grow too quickly, resulting in thick, white, silver or red patches of skin. Normally your skin cells gradually flake off about every 4 weeks and new skin cells grow to replace those that fall off. When you have psoriasis, new skin cells grow more rapidly, as fast as just a couple of days.
The build-up of these skin cells is called plaques and they can range in size. Most of the time, they appear on the knees, elbows, scalp, hands, feet and even lower back. Many times, this skin condition can be hereditary and experts believe psoriasis occurs when the immune system overreacts, which causes inflammation and flaking of the skin. Psoriasis is not contagious, so you can’t catch it from someone.