Healthy Topics

Get the Skinny on Eczema and Psoriasis

Many people hear the words “eczema” and “psoriasis” and assume they’re virtually the same thing. They’re not.

Eczema is an annoying but treatable, curable, even preventable skin rash. It is a short-term and fairly normal immune reaction to some “trigger” in the environment.

Psoriasis is a hereditary, chronic skin disease that, while (technically) “treatable,” cannot really be cured, only controlled.

True, both eczema and psoriasis are dermatologic disorders — they both involve discoloration and disruption of the skin — but there the resemblance ends.

Eczema can occur at any point on the skin that comes in contact with a “triggering” irritant, such as poison ivy, detergents, jewelry or dry winter air. Psoriasis tends to occur on the knees, elbows, trunk and/or scalp, and its cause is basically unknown.

Eczema appears suddenly and induces itching, redness and tiny bumps or blisters that may ooze but go away fairly quickly with the proper treatment. Psoriasis begins gradually and is not necessarily irritating until well advanced, when dry, red patches of skin covered with silvery scales emerge, sometimes with pustules on top.

Eczema is a completely superficial skin condition. Psoriasis is a systemic disorder and can involve stiff and swollen joints, as with arthritis.

Eczema is treated rather easily, with corticosteroid creams and ointments or antihistamines. Psoriasis (if it responds to treatment at all) might respond to one or more of a number of therapies, from corticosteroids to ultraviolet light therapy to injections of drugs that target the immune system.