The 31-year-old female patient, from Hung Yen, first showed signs of psoriasis more than 10 years ago with a few red, scaly patches on her hands when she was a cheerful, active university student.

There are now many new treatment methods that can achieve over 90% or even complete clearance of lesions.

At that time, she did not know and did not think she had psoriasis. She bought medicine to apply and found it helped. Occasionally, it came back but she just thought it was a simple allergic skin reaction.

Like many other female students, she started a beautiful love and started a family in 2015 after graduating from university and following her husband to Vung Tau to work and live.

However, after getting married for a while, the lesions appeared more and spread more. At that time, she went to the doctor and was diagnosed with psoriasis.

Because it is a chronic disease, treatment is for long-term control, not a complete cure. She was blamed by her husband and in-laws for hiding her illness and intentionally deceiving them.

Family life became more difficult, conflicts became more and more intense. Her husband kept nagging her, her husband's family did not sympathize, she became quiet and decided to return to Hanoi and register for another study.

The patient did not dare to share the story with her family, only using the excuse of going to school to return to Hanoi. Her depressive symptoms gradually became clearer and were known to her family when they visited her. She only liked to lie alone, was afraid of communication, afraid of light, afraid of noise.

Because of this psychological condition, she was also afraid to go to the doctor and did not comply with the treatment, so her psoriasis became more and more severe. In addition, her husband did not contact her to care and ask about her.

Her psychological problems also got worse. Although her family took her to see a doctor and treated her psychological condition, the improvement was still limited. The day she was admitted to the hospital, what impressed us was that she was a pretty, good-looking girl but looked lifeless, listless, and had widespread psoriasis lesions almost all over her body.

In addition to treating psoriasis, Dr. Nguyen Thi Tuyen, Department of Skin Disease Treatment for Women and Children, Central Dermatology Hospital, coordinated to take her to a mental health specialist and was diagnosed with schizophrenia - one of the severe and difficult to control conditions.

Psoriasis is a benign, common, non-contagious but chronic disease. However, its effects on patients are often more severe than other chronic diseases because the lesions are present on the skin. This causes severe psychological effects.

This impact is not only due to the damage of the disease but also due to the stigma and lack of understanding of those around.

Therefore, people with psoriasis are susceptible to problems such as feeling ashamed, lacking confidence, low self-esteem, low self-worth, sometimes social isolation, discrimination, reduced opportunities in work, social interaction, difficulties in daily life... even severe cases can cause depression, suicidal thoughts.

Furthermore, these psychological problems in turn aggravate psoriasis, making it harder to control, creating a vicious cycle that makes the patient increasingly depressed.

The story we mentioned above is a typical case for this problem. If the people around her had shared, encouraged, and accompanied her, perhaps the young girl's situation would not have been as serious as it is now.

With psoriasis, there are now many new treatment methods that can clear the lesions by over 90% or even completely. However, what is equally important is understanding, fair treatment, no discrimination from society and especially the companionship of relatives.

According to experts, psoriasis is a skin disease that causes a rash with itchy, scaly patches mainly on the knees, elbows, trunk and scalp. 2% - 3% of the population has psoriasis. Psoriasis was first described by the talented Roman scientist Aurelius Cornelius Celsus.

Psoriasis occurs when skin cells are replaced faster than normal. Normally, skin cells are created and replaced every 3-4 weeks, but this process only takes about 3-7 days in psoriasis patients. This causes the patient's body to increase skin cell production, leading to a buildup of skin cells that create flaky, rough patches covered with scales.

Scientists have noted that people with psoriasis have a disorder of the immune system. The immune system is the body's defense mechanism to fight disease and infection, but it mistakenly attacks healthy skin cells in people with psoriasis.

Psoriasis may run in families. About one-third of people with psoriasis report a family history of the disease. Studies of identical twins show that one twin has a 70% chance of developing the disease if the other has the disorder; the risk is 20% in non-identical twins. These findings suggest that both genetic susceptibility and environmental response play a role in the development of psoriasis.

In addition, other factors such as skin trauma, throat infections and use of certain medications also cause the disease.

Psoriasis is common but difficult to treat. It can cause pain, insomnia, and difficulty concentrating. The condition tends to go through cycles, flaring up for weeks to months, then subsiding for a period.

With the development of science and technology, many new drugs have been discovered and applied in treatment to reduce the inconvenience and complications caused by the disease. However, the cost of drugs is still expensive, so many patients do not have enough money to treat with new drugs.

Psoriasis is associated with an increased risk of psoriatic arthritis, lymphoma, cardiovascular disease, Crohn's disease, and depression. Psoriatic arthritis alone affects 30% of people with the disease.

Young people with psoriasis may also be at increased risk of diabetes.

People with psoriasis have a 1.58 times higher rate of hypertension (58%) than people without this disease.

Psoriasis is still a chronic disease, requiring long-term medication. Psoriasis follows the patient for life. However, due to scaly skin, patients often have low self-esteem and inferiority complex. Many people give up treatment, causing the disease to flare up, causing complications and seriously affecting the quality of life.

People who have not had the disease may need to increase their resistance, limit infections, injuries, etc. to avoid affecting the immune system.

For people in high-risk groups such as families with sick people, screening and early detection are needed for early treatment to avoid more serious illness.

For those who have the disease, do not panic or worry and need to talk to a dermatologist - cosmetic dermatologist to share about treatment methods and ways to prevent complications and the disease from progressing to a severe stage.

Patients need to use medication as directed by their doctor, avoid sunlight, keep their skin clean, do not drink alcohol, do not smoke, limit eating fatty and greasy foods, and increase their intake of foods containing folic acid and omega 3 from mackerel, salmon, etc.

People with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis need a diet rich in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) such as salmon, herring, mackerel, extra virgin olive oil, legumes, vegetables, fruits, whole grains.

Many patients improved after consuming less tobacco, caffeine, sugar, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, paprika, and white potatoes but also taking probiotics and vitamin D.

When applying a gluten-free diet, the severity of the disease is often reduced in people with celiac disease and those with anti-gliadin antibodies. Patients need to abstain from a high-calorie diet, avoid drinking alcohol, red meat and dairy products due to saturated fat...