What is scalp psoriasis?

Scalp Psoriasis is a skin condition believed to be caused by your immune system, where your skin cells grows too much and abnormally quickly, resulting in red patches in your head. Most of the time the patches will also be scaly, and may appear in multiple sections on you scalp, even on the forehead.

This condition occurs after the immune system is triggered to fight an infection. However, even after the infection is over, the antibodies produced starts attacking the normal cells. This occurs as the T-cells in the body fail to function properly in regulating immune responses, and thus triggering abnormal growth in skin cells.

Scalp Psoriasis is also the most common psoriasis type with half of all psoriasis sufferers in the United States experiencing this condition. However, it is rare for psoriasis sufferers just to have scalp psoriasis only.

It is also believed that this condition is hereditary, and is not contagious from one person to another. The seriousness of the scalp psoriasis condition can range from mild and hardly noticeable, to severe, visible on parts of the forehead, and causing hair loss as well.

It has been known that psoriasis treatments generally administered for other types of psoriasis conditions work equally well for scalp psoriasis. However, the viability or practicality of these treatments on skin areas with hair is questionable. For instance, UV treatments for psoriasis can’t work for areas of the scalp where hair would be preventing UV rays from reaching the skin.

While areas with scalp psoriasis are typically populated with red and inflamed patches, these may also be covered with silvery-colored scaly plague that cause intensive itching. The plague may sometimes crack and bleed.