In the natural world, there are weeds that cannot be burned out by wildfire and grow again in the spring breeze, and in the disease world, there is psoriasis that still recurs next time, no matter what treatment methods are used. Tenacity is praised for life, but it’s a bit annoying when used for disease! But it can’t be helped, relapse, is the psoriasis patients to face the trouble. Long-term treatment and recurrence bring great pain to patients physically and mentally.
Thus, clarifying and avoiding the high-risk triggers of psoriasis recurrence to help reduce the number of recurrences is a key step in the psoriasis treatment process.
Trigger 1: bad psycho-neurological factors
Psychoneurological factors are important triggers for psoriasis recurrence, and their specific triggering mechanism is not clear, but relevant model studies have found that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis of psoriasis patients is mostly dysfunctional and cannot effectively resist the inflammatory effects of the body caused by external stress.
When patients are disturbed by adverse psychoneurological factors, such as mental stress, stress can induce a new round of disease by regulating their neuropeptide levels, which in turn affects the peripheral nervous system and promotes inflammatory reactions, leading to vasodilatation, production of inflammatory factors and intensification of neurogenic inflammatory reactions.
Trigger 2: Poor lifestyle
Bad lifestyles such as smoking, alcoholism and lack of sleep are also one of the important triggers for psoriasis recurrence.
Among them, the nicotine in tobacco can stimulate the body to release various cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor, which can be overexpressed through vascular endothelial growth factor, and then stimulate pathological angiogenesis, increasing the probability of psoriasis recurrence.
Adverse lifestyle
As psoriasis is a chronic, relapsing, inflammatory, systemic disease, the ethanol in alcohol can further affect the immune mechanisms of such patients, thus inducing and aggravating the inflammatory response.
Secondly, patients with long-term sleep deprivation can be affected by sleep deprivation leading to the recovery and adjustment of their own neurological, endocrine and immune system functions, which can also interfere with the barrier function of the skin, thus causing the occurrence of acute inflammatory reactions and resulting in the recurrence of psoriasis.
Trigger 3: Bad diet factors
Food is a powerful weapon to ensure psoriasis patients against disease recurrence, if the diet is not appropriate, it will directly interfere with the body’s metabolism and induce disease recurrence.
Bad dietary factors
In particular, foods rich in saturated fatty acids and simple sugars, as well as alcohol and red meat, etc., may inhibit a component called regulatory T cells in the body and aggravate psoriasis if patients consume too much.
It is recommended to eat more low-calorie ketogenic diet appropriately, which can help improve the metabolism and inflammation state of psoriasis patients.
Trigger 4: Other adverse factors
Trauma is also one of the common triggering factors for psoriasis recurrence, and the phenomenon of psoriasis induced locally after trauma is clinically referred to as isomorphic reaction, the mechanism of which involves a variety of signaling pathways, such as mast cell-derived trypsin-like.
Infections, too, can trigger or aggravate psoriasis. Common infections such as Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Malassezia, and papillomavirus can lead to recurrence of psoriasis after upper respiratory tract infections, such as sore throat and fever followed by the appearance of erythematous scaly lesions all over the patient’s body.
In addition, psoriasis shares a common genetic susceptibility and inflammatory signaling pathways with metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. In some female patients, the condition can be associated with pregnancy, menstruation and breastfeeding.
At the same time, inappropriate medication can also lead to relapse of the disease, such as listening to biased prescriptions, self-reduction or discontinuation of medication. Patients are advised to give accurate feedback on their chronic diseases, actively control their weight and strictly follow medical advice on medication.
Although there is no cure for psoriasis, as long as the above-mentioned undesirable factors are avoided and relapse triggers are kept away, generally speaking, the purpose of stable control of the disease can be achieved. But it should be noted that even if the condition is controlled, regular follow-up is very important!
References
[1]Liu Xiaohan,Jin Hongzhong. Risk factors and mechanisms of psoriasis recurrence[J]. Concord Medical Journal,2022,13(02):308-314.