An unpleasant appearance is peeling of the skin, terrible plaques of red or pink color … Diseases with similar external symptoms were known in ancient times. At the same time, dermatological terminology was introduced to refer to such diseases. Moreover, many of the terms used by the great Hippocrates, it is customary to use to this day, in modern medicine.
From the time of Hippocrates …
If we talk about a disease called ” psoriasis” , then the history of its study tells that in antiquity this term did not denote one, but a whole group of chronic skin diseases of an inflammatory nature. So, psoriasis was called a disease, accompanied by the appearance on the skin of tuberosity, scaly spots, areas of keratinization of the epidermis, severe itching, burning. They included various mycoses, eczema, leprosy, lichen planus, lupus erythematosus, and many other diseases with similar symptoms.
It must be noted that each of the diseases indicated by the above terms, nevertheless, had some distinctive features. For example, leprosy was a group of skin diseases, the symptoms of which were peeling of the skin, dryness and thickening of the epidermis, itching. In the current definition of psoriasis, the history of which is still not completely written, such symptoms only indirectly recall the characteristic signs of psoriasis. As for the term “psora,” used by both Plato and Herodotus to refer to a group of skin diseases with similar symptoms, they also called diseases manifested through peeling, dryness and itching of the skin.
For the first time, the term “psoriasis” was used in ancient Greece to refer to manifestations in the form of scaly localized changes in the skin, accompanied by severe itching. However, the clinical picture of psoriasis of the time was completely different from psoriasis, which we now know.
Studying the ancient chronicles, it can be assumed that the term psoriasis was sometimes used to refer to completely different diseases. He was mistaken for scabies, leprosy, vitiligo. Very often, patients suffering from such diseases were denied medical attention, they were moved away from healthy people, in peculiar reservations, forced to wear special clothes or bells, warning everyone else about the patient’s approach. Such methods, in part, were justified, since dangerous contagious diseases, for the treatment of which no remedy had yet been found, were plentiful in the Middle Ages.
To the present
And only after several hundred years, at the beginning of the 19th century, the concept of “psoriasis” as a separately designated disease took on a clear outline. For the first time described the symptoms and manifestations of psoriasis, the stages of its development and possible complications, scientists from the UK. They differentiated leprosy from psoriasis, various fungal skin lesions, described the usual and unusual course of the disease (damage to the palms, soles, joints, nails, etc.). Subsequently, English researchers established a connection between disorders in the nervous system, as well as various diseases of the internal organs, and the occurrence of psoriasis.
More recently, in the early to mid-20th century, more accurate information about the essence of psoriasis was obtained. In particular, the relationship between the disease and metabolic disorders, the influence of viral diseases on the occurrence of psoriasis, and weak immunity was established. In addition, a hereditary predisposition factor to this disease was established. In the aggregate of established facts, psoriasis began to be talked of not just as a disease that affects the skin, but as a systemic disease that affects various tissues and organs of the human body.
The story of studying the causes of psoriasis, the mechanisms of its development and methods of treatment does not end there. Today, in many countries of the world, active research is being conducted aimed at finding means and methods for the complete cure of psoriasis. But, unfortunately, scientists have not yet come to any positive results.