Form the beginning of humankind hundreds of thousands of human beings – from common people to stars, from kings to important modern politicians – suffered and do still suffer from psoriasis today.
Psoriasis is even cited in the writings of ancient healing. Back in the late classic times there was a known disease, which was realized by the peeling and itchiness of skin.
The problem of Ancient Greek medical expressions led to the fact that in the functions of Hippocrates, leprosy and psoriasis were collectively under one name, which was -leprosy. Psoriasis was known in the times of Hippocrates under the names of lepra and psora, as well as alphos and leichen. In the times of Hippocrates a dermatological expressions was introduced, utilized sometimes even at present, some of the terms of which had a group meaning. So, under the term “psoriasis” they united the diseases, which are accompanied by tuberosity, by the formation of scale, spots and by keratosis, such as eczema, lichens (micose, red flat lichen, tubercular lupus, leprosy, etc).
Each of these terms had their really unique elements; for example, the term “leprosy” was used with the determination of the assortment of the diseases, which are manifested by a thick skin, by its peeling and itchiness, which in some way tells us about psoriasis in today’s idea of psoriasis.
At the start of our era a distinguished Greek physician named Claudius Galen was first to use the term “psoriasis” to label the scaly changes in the skin with an extreme itchiness; however, clinically this condition little resembled the present manifestations of psoriasis.
In the writings of the past hundreds of years psoriasis itself was sometimes mistaken to be leprosy, mange, Vitiligo, which usually needed a strict segregation and other subsequent consequences: people with psoriasis didn’t get any health care; they had to wear a really unusual outfit and bell.
With the term “psora” (ancient name of psoriasis) it was called the variety of diseases of the skin, for which was known for it’s peeling, dry skin and itchiness.
The first visible description of the clinical manifestations of psoriasis belongs to a 2nd century Greek philosopher named Celsus.
Only the start of the 19th Century an English physician named Willan and his students clearly offered the idea of psoriasis as an illness, its manifestations and problems. They differentiated it from leprosy and fungus diseases.They secluded the usual and uncommon surge of psoriasis (changes in the palms, feet, etc. ). Willan described two diseases: discoid psoriasis, which he called Lepra Graecorum and Psora Leprosa. Willan in 1801 gave a description of the ailment taking into account variations in the clinical make-up of psoriasis.
A key role in the course of the probe into psoriasis was done by a Russian dermatologists of the 19th century , which considered this dermatitis as a system ailment,”psoriatic disease”, capturing into account the connection of psoriasis with the pathology of the interior organs, metabolism, and the condition of the nervous system. The physicians of various countries (Gebr, H.Koebner and others) have also later pointed out the connection of psoriatic disease with the circumstance of the nervous system, and the diseases of the interior organs.
Later dermatology was enriched by new facts about the zest of the disease. All the cumulated evidence lets us at present call psoriasis a “system disease”.
New evidence about the essence and the mechanism of the course of the illness was obtained in the last 40 years; the new modern methods for the therapy were envisioned and used: PUVA- treatment, corticosteroids, retinoids, cytostatics in the therapy of severe forms, Selective Ultraviolet Phototherapy, acupuncture, hemosorption etc.
During the latter part of the 20th century it was obvious by a truly immense approach to the dilemma of psoriasis. Only in the last 10 years or so, around the globe there have been published more than ten-thousand pieces, devoted to psoriatic dermatitis, which makes it one of the most examined. However, none of the possibilities or the theories show a complete essence of the illness, and the same problems of treatment and preventive maintenance stands in front of the latest dermatologists as vivid as it did a century ago.
Currently, many Researchers and educational institutions deal with the exploration of the root, manifestations, and with the refinement of new ways to treat and use preventive maintenance measures for psoriasis. In the United States the key scientific focal point for psoriasis is Stanford University, which has 35 different countries from around the world in the form of an international association on the studies of psoriasis. The association publishes the only one on the entire planet the American Journal of Psoriasis. It deals with the inquiries about psoriasis from dermatologist all around the globe.
Every five years there is carried out a World Congress specialized to the difficulty of psoriasis.
October 29th is dedicated as World Psoriasis Day. Every year it is devoted to persons with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
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