Is psoriasis a hereditary disorder?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am worried about my family history. My grandpa, mama, and now I have psoriasis. I am a 33-year-old man, and I am scared for my little kids. Is this condition gonna pass to them? I read somewhere that it is genetic. My skin is getting worse. I have red, scaly patches all over my elbows and knees. Some days, they bleed and crack. I want to understand if my children are at risk. Should we get some genetic testing done? I am concerned about their future health and do not want them to go through what I am experiencing.

Please help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

Psoriasis is an autoimmune condition that causes inflammation in your skin. Symptoms of psoriasis include thick areas of discolored skin covered with scales. These thick, scaly areas are called plaques.

An over-reactive immune system that creates inflammation in your skin causes psoriasis.

If you have psoriasis, your immune system is supposed to destroy foreign invaders, like bacteria, to keep you healthy and prevent you from getting sick. Instead, your immune system can mistake healthy cells for foreign invaders. As a result, your immune system creates inflammation or swelling, which you see on the surface of your skin as skin plaques.

It usually takes up to 30 days for new skin cells to grow and replace old skin cells. Your over-reactive immune system causes the timeline of new skin cell development to change to three to four days. The speed of new cells replacing old cells creates scales and frequent skin shedding on top of skin plaques.

Yes, as you said, psoriasis runs in families. There may be a genetic component to psoriasis because biological parents may pass the condition down to their children. But you cannot be 100 percent sure that your kids get it. Genetic tests would not be helpful in autoimmune disorders.

I hope this helps.

Kindly follow up if you have more concerns.

Thank you.