2) Getting a little sun when you can makes a big difference. Be very careful not to burn as that can make it worse, but getting a little sun will help.
Correct. Why? Probably vitamin D-mediated.
You should have a vitamin D-25 level taken with your next bloodwork.
Background: vitamin D is not a vitamin in the strict sense: i.e. a nutrient that we cannot make ourselves and therefore must get from our food. Rather, it is a steroid hormone, a modified choleSTEROL molecule, like sex hormones, cortisol, etc. Under ideal conditions we make all we need ourselves.
The 'rate limiting' step in the synthesis of Vitamin D occurs in the skin, where enzymes (large protiens) use the energy from ultraviolet solar radiation (UVB) to power the synthesis. Exposing your hands, forearms, and face to 15 minutes of mid-day sunlight will provide you with more than ample vitamin D. However, few of us in the industrialized world ever have the opportunity to do this.
For nearly a century, Vitamin D has been associated with bone metabolism. However, we are now begining to appreciate that it plays may other roles. Among other things it inhibits cell division (mitosis). Many cancers are associated with vitamin D deficient states (prostate, esp. in African Americans, breast). Cancers, like psoriasis, are diseases primarily characterized by uncontrolled cell division.
The connection between vitamin D and bone metabolism was made among children living in tenements who had rickets (weak, poorly formed bones). This was when they first started supplementing milk with Vitamin D.
Do not depend on milk, or your daily multiple vitamin, to meet you vitamin D requirements: it's a drop in the bucket.
Back to psoriasis: for years, the only effective treatment for psoriasis was exposure of the diseased skin to light from ultraviolet lamps. The rapid skin cell division was inhibited likely due to increased local vitamin D synthesis.
Medical subspecialist are very often like the proverbial 'six blind men and the elephant', and dermatologists are among the most guilty. They go ballistic over the mere mention of exposure to UV radiation. While exposure of the face and hands to mid-day sun will probably increase your risk for skin cancer, in terms of overall societal disease burden the things it will protect against -- your psoriasis, hip fractures secondary to osteoporosis, prostate, breast, and other cancers -- far outweigh the risk.
Another autoimmune disease that appears to be associated with vitamin D deficiency is Multiple Sclerosis. MS is nearly unheard of in the tropics, where one is exposed to solar UV radiation year round, and endemic in northern countries.
3) There is a new ointment that was set to come out this summer (I forget the name) that is supposed to be very very effective and safe. You might want to see your dermatologist to find out about it. I am going to ask about it at my next appointment.
I think this is a vitamin D preparation
