HOW TO IMPROVE NAIL PSORIASIS

Nail psoriasis affects the majority of patients with plaque psoriasis. This might result in dents, lifting, discoloration, thickness, and cracking of your nails. It's also possible to get psoriasis on your nails without having psoriasis elsewhere on your body. The good news is that with the correct treatment and at-home care, you may lessen pain, resume daily activities, and restore your nails' appearance.


Follow these home remedies from board-certified doctors to help with nail psoriasis.


It's critical to protect your nails if you have nail psoriasis. Anything that dries or injures a nail can aggravate or provoke a flare-up of nail psoriasis. To achieve the greatest outcomes from nail psoriasis treatment and avoid flare-ups, dermatologists prescribe the following recommendations:


  • Maintain a short nail length. This prevents nails from rising from the bed. It can also help prevent nail psoriasis-related accumulation beneath the nails.
  • When doing any type of manual labor, wear gloves. This includes household chores, yard work, and home repairs. Psoriasis can flare up if you irritate your skin or nails. Wear a cotton glove first, then a vinyl or nitrile glove over the cotton glove while doing wet labor like washing dishes. Latex gloves are insufficiently protective of your nails.
  • Hands should be moisturized. Psoriasis causes your skin and nails to dry out. After each hand wash and within three minutes of showering, apply a moisturizer to help lock in moisture. The best treatment is a thick cream or ointment.  
  • Leave your cuticles alone. Cuticle cutting or pushing up can cause skin irritation and infection. Psoriasis flares up when patients with the disease hurt their skin or have a skin infection. This reaction is referred to as the Koebner phenomenon.
  • Biting (or picking) your nails and the skin around them is not a good idea. This, too, can harm your skin and make you more susceptible to infection. Psoriasis can be worse by skin injuries or nail infections.  
  • Refrain from scraping the debris from beneath your nails. Removing the accumulation can cause your nails to loosen and raise your risk of infection. The accumulation will eventually disappear with treatment. 
  • Avoid using fake nails. Nail polish and light buffing are acceptable and can be used to conceal dents (nail pitting) caused by nail psoriasis. Artificial nails, on the other hand, can make your nails separate from your fingers, which is a common problem in nail psoriasis. 

Psoriasis of the nails can be stubborn. You're significantly more likely to observe improvement if you combine a treatment plan for nail psoriasis with the prescribed nail care. 


Reference: “7 Nail-Care Tips That Can Reduce Nail Psoriasis.” 7 Nail-Care Tips That Can Reduce Nail Psoriasis, www.aad.org, https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/psoriasis/skin-care/nail-care. Accessed 9 May 2022.