Psoriatic arthritis is a type of inflammatory arthritis that affects around 10-30% of people that suffer under a chronic skin condition, which is psoriasis. Psoriatic arthritis happens to be a seronegative spondyloathropathy and also occurring more commonly in tissue type of HLA-B27 patients.
This kind of arthritis can occur at any age, though, on average it tends to appear about 10 years after the first sign of psoriasis. For the greater number of people, this is between the ages of 30 and 50 years old, but can affect children as well. Both men and woman are equally affected by this severe condition. In about one within seven cases, the arthritis symptoms may occur before any involvement of the skin. More than 80% of patients with this kind of illness will possibly have psoriatic nail lesions, which is characterized by pitting of the nails, or even worse, loss of the nail itself or onycholysis.
Symptoms of Psoriatic Arthritis:
- Stiffness
- Swelling in and around the joints
- Comprehensive fatigue
- Swollen fingers and toes
- Reduced series of motion
- Morning tiredness and stiffness
- Redness and pain of the eye (conjunctivitis)
These symptoms can affect any part of your body, together with spine and fingertips, and can range from comparatively mild to severe.
Types of Psoriatic Arthritis
- Symmetric Arthritis - much like of rheumatoid arthritis but normally milder with less physical changes. Affects multiple symmetrical joints and can be disabling.
- Asymmetric Arthritis – involves few or many joints and does not occur in the same joint, dissimilar with symmetric. It affects any joint, such as knee, hip, ankle and wrist. The hands and feet may enlarge. The joints may become tender, warm and red as well. A person with this disease may experience sporadic joint pain, which is typically responsive to medical therapy.
- Distal Interphalangeal Predominant (DIP) – it involves the distal joints of the fingers and toes. And nail changes are usually prominent.
- Spondylitis – an inflammation of the spinal column. It is an inflammation with stiffness of the neck, lower back, spinal vertebrae or sacroiliac, a very common symptom in a larger number of patients and making movements difficult.
- Arthritis Mutilans – it is a severe, destructive arthritis that affects less than 5% of people with psoriatic arthritis. It mainly affects the small joints of the hands, and feet, and often, associated with neck or lower back pain.
Psoriatic arthritis can build up mild symptoms slowly, or it can develop quickly and become severe. Early recognition, diagnosis and aggressive arthritis treatment of this disease can help prevent or limit wide joint damage that appears in later stages of the syndrome.