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Allergy / Respiratory

Are Your Symptoms From COVID-19 or Seasonal Allergies?

In the thick of the coronavirus pandemic, it might be hard to tell if you’ve come...
What to Know If You’re Headed to College With Asthma or Allergies

If you’re off to college in the fall and have allergies or asthma, it’s not too...
Pulmonary Rehab Can Help People With COPD, So Why Do So Few Get It?

Roughly 16 million Americans have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but only a fraction have access...

More Allergy / Respiratory News

Is It Allergies or COVID-19? An Expert Helps You Tell the Difference
With allergy season and the coronavirus pandemic overlapping this spring, one allergist offers some...
- Posted April 17, 2020
- 12
Another Coronavirus Health Threat: Too Few Asthma Inhalers
As hospitals give more and more COVID-19 patients albuterol to help them breathe, people...
- Posted March 31, 2020
- 6
What You Need to Know About Coronavirus If You Have Asthma
If you have asthma, you are among those at greatest risk in the coronavirus...
- Posted March 19, 2020
- 21
An Allergist Offers His Expert Advice for a Sneeze-Free Spring
While many Americans are ready to celebrate the end of winter, those with seasonal...
- Posted March 7, 2020
- 22
Pick Summer Camps Carefully When Your Kid Has Allergies, Asthma
If you child has allergies or asthma, you need to take that into consideration...
- Posted February 29, 2020
- 12
Babies’ Exposure to Household Cleaning Products Tied to Later Asthma Risk
A key to your baby’s asthma risk may be as close as your laundry...
- Posted February 18, 2020
- 21
5 Secrets to an Allergy-Free Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to shower your loved one with gifts, but...
- Posted February 14, 2020
- 13

Are You Living with Psoriasis?

A growing knowledge of the skin disease called psoriasis is leading to greater treatment choices, including personalized therapies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports.

Psoriasis is an immune system disorder that causes overproduction of skin cells, resulting in scaling, pain, swelling, redness and heat. The condition affects about 7.5 million Americans.

“As we better understand the disease, researchers know more about what specific factors to target in order to develop effective treatments,” FDA dermatologist Dr. Melinda McCord said in an agency news release.

There is no cure for psoriasis, so the main goals of treatments are to stop skin cell overproduction and reduce inflammation. Current therapies include medicines applied to the skin (topical), light treatment (phototherapy), or drugs taken by mouth or given by injection.

Doctors used to take a step-by-step approach, starting patients with mild to moderate psoriasis on topical therapy. If that was ineffective, doctors moved on to phototherapy or drug treatment.