psoriasis treatments

This section will cover the most common treatments and the Nopsor treatment falls into the topical category and uses some of the elements described here plus a proprietary herbal blend that has made Nopsor work for most people without rebound.

Topical Treatments for Psoriasis

Topical treatments can be used for any type of psoriasis, either as a monotherapy or in combination with other treatments.

There are several criteria for assessing which treatment to apply:

Location of Psoriasis
Severity of injuries
Reaction to previous treatments
Understanding the risk vs. benefit of treatment
Cost of treatment

In order to select a topical agent for the treatment of psoriasis, it is important to understand and know what factors determine the risk and effectiveness of the agent: how the agent is metabolised in the skin, the vehicle of application, the concentration of the drug and the frequency of application.

There are various application vehicles such as creams, ointments, lotions, gels, shampoos and medicines.

For the topical treatment of psoriasis there are several medications or drugs available:

Corticosteroids
Vitamin D analogues
Retinoid
Tar
Ditranol
Calcineurin

Corticosteroids

Steroids are man-made medicines that resemble cortisol, a naturally occurring hormone from the adrenal gland. These man-made corticosteroids are also sometimes called steroids, confusing the artificial with the natural.

Corticosteroids are thought to act by binding cortisol (adrenal gland hormone) to the glucocorticoid receptor (protein) that is involved in development, metabolism and the immune system. This elicits a variety of biological responses to corticosteroids that can be favourable or unfavourable. These actions can result in anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative and immune-repressive effects. One way to simplify the above is that they suppress the immune system. Corticosteroids are available in various dosages which gives versatility of application.

Risks of corticosteroids

Corticosteroids are associated with side effects including skin atrophy, stretch marks, cataracts, glaucoma, vulnerability to infection, diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, and more.

Most side effects are associated with prolonged use of corticosteroids.

Vitamin D analogues

Vitamin D is generated in the skin and can be taken as a supplement or found in food. From there it travels to the liver to make vitamin D in the blood called calcidiol. From there it goes in two directions to perform two functions. The first function is endocrine and is to maintain calcium in the body. The second function takes vitamin D from the blood and sends it to the cells of the body. And this is where it is believed that vitamin D when it binds to the receptor, it activates and modulates genes that work with epidermal proliferation, inflammation and keratinocytes.

A vitamin D analogue is a chemical compound that has the same structure as vitamin D.

Today there are 3 vitamin D analogues available for the treatment of psoriasis: Calcitriol, Tacalcitol and Calcipotriol.

Calcitriol is an active hormonal analogue of vitamin D, Tacalcitrol and Calcipotriol are synthetic vitamin D analogues.

Retinoid - Tazarotene

Tazarotene is a synthetic retinoid with an affinity for the retinoid receptor. It has been shown to cause anti-proliferation and anti-inflammation. Prolonged use is strongly discouraged as it causes skin irritation, erythema and burning.

Dithranol

Dithranol induces radicals in the skin that result in anti-proliferation and modulation of inflammation in Psoriasis.

Risks: The dithranol molecule is unstable, therefore standardisation of formulations is poor. There is not yet much evidence on the efficacy and risks of this treatment.

Tar

Tar is a distillate product of organic materials such as wood, shale and coal.

Coal tar, which is a type of coal, is used for psoriasis and has been used for over 100 years for this purpose. Coal tar contains hundreds of chemical compounds. Exactly how coal tar works is unknown, but it is known to help with anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferation effects. Although many studies are still lacking to corroborate its efficacy, coal tar is known to have longer-lasting effects than corticosteroids.

Risks: Staining, soiling, odour, irritation, and in some cases allergic skin reactions.

The Nopsor treatment uses coal tar in its formula.

Calcineurin

Calcineurin is an enzyme that catalyses the dephosphorylation reaction of a phosphoprotein (protein). Its effect is to inhibit T-cell activation.

Nopsor Treatment - Describe it

Biological Treatments for Psoriasis

The term biological indicates that they are derived from biological sources such as human or animal cells and are used as therapeutic mechanisms. Most of them are made using biological engineering methods. In short, the genetic information of a protein is transferred into a cell line to induce the production of this protein.

The substances used for the treatment of psoriasis can be divided into 3 types: