Psoriatic arthritis is not one condition but two different conditions: psoriasis as too arthritis with the former condition being quite common and one in which the patient develops raised red colored patches on the skin and scales too will begin to form. When a person develops psoriasis it changes the appearance of their skins while in the case of arthritis the problem is more closely related to inflamed joints.

Autoimmune Disease

Psoriatic arthritis is also believed to be an autoimmune disease which meant that part of your immune system (cells as well as antibodies) start fighting their own tissues. It would indeed be a very rare occasion when people suffering from psoriatic arthritis did not also have a psoriasis problem and whenever the skin symptoms become severe then chances of developing psoriatic arthritis will also increase.

However, psoriasis only affects an estimated two and a half percent of Americans and furthermore African Americans and also Native Americans are not so prone to this disease. What’s more, about six percent of people having a psoriasis condition risk developing psoriatic arthritis and overall there are believed to be about one million Americans suffering from psoriatic arthritis. In many instances a person with psoriasis might not even get to know that they also have a psoriatic arthritis problem.

The condition does however affects men and women in equal measure though males tend to develop spondylitic forms that affect their spines while women tend to develop rheumatoid forms in which their joints are affected. In addition, people in the age group of thirty-five to fifty-five are the most likely to develop psoriatic arthritis.

Unfortunately, psoriatic arthritis causes are as yet not known though genetics as well as immune system related factors are believed to behind the onset of the disease. The bottom line is that psoriatic arthritis is really an inflammatory process that can cause a lot of pain and which is also characterized by swelling.

In fact one of the indicators that show that a person has a psoriatic arthritis problem is when they feel pain and experience swelling on their fingers as too on their toes and this can lead to development of what are known as ‘sausage’ toes or fingers. Once the problem affects you it causes reduction in range of motion in the areas that are affected and in the morning it is also usual that patients will start to experience stiffness and also feel fatigued. The tendons as well as ligaments tend to swell up and hurt and fingernails as well as toenails might begin to lift up from the skin or small sized holes might develop and which are known as pits.