Posted by I decided to do my project on Psoriasis, and for my abstract, I decided to make a physical model of skin with psoriasis and normal skin. Starting from the bottom, the subcutaneous tissue is made of a stale, very dry brownie. The dermis is made up of frozen cool whip; after that, this layer of green fruit leather represents the basement membrane, and lastly for the healthy skin is the epidermis, which is made of cookies. And for the psoriasis model, I used melted chocolate and crushed up frosted mini wheat cereal. There is also licorice that is supposed to represent the blood vessels and chewing gum dyed blue to represent the hair follicle—all in all, a really gross combination of food I wouldn’t recommend eating it.
Psoriasis is a skin disease that shows up in rough, scaly patches on the skin. And much like eczema, there is not a known cure for it. Scientists know that a disease of the immune system causes a high turnover of cells to be produced. The skin cell cycle lasts about 28-30 days; it’s 3-5 days for someone with psoriasis. This ultimately is what causes those scaly patches of skin. Plaque psoriasis is the most common type of psoriasis that makes up the majority of the cases. But there is also guttate, inverse, pustular, and erythrodermic psoriasis. There is a multitude of different external and internal reasons why someone with psoriasis could have it worsen. These triggers can include stress, illness, changes in weather, medications, and genetics. Typically treatment is about trying to slow down the turnover of cells. These treatments include topical creams like corticosteroids or retinoids, as well as light therapy and oral injections.
Note: For some reason, I was unable to upload my image so the picture is a link to it through one drive.
Psoriasis is a dermatologic condition exhibiting itself in abnormal skin appearance and texture. The artwork accompanying Ms. Pearson’s essay consisted of two edible pieces portraying normal vs psoriasis skin. The art does a good job of showing how the skin reacts to this disorder. It is not smooth, rather scaly, rough, and uneven. Normal skin cells rotate every month or so. Psoriasis causes this cycle to shorten to 2-3 days. There are several different kinds of this condition, but most individuals are affected by plaque psoriasis. Various reasons may stimulate the condition to become more dramatic, including controllable factors such as lifestyle, or uncontrollable such as genetics. Although there is no known cure, there are treatments with varying degrees of effectiveness. Treatment essentially attempts to slow the cell cycle. With 125 million people being affected, Ms. Pearson’s objective was to inform people of a common condition that affects 2-3% of the global population. With continued research, a cure may be discovered, relieving many people from suffering with it.