Diet

Maintaining an ideal weight, exercising regularly, and eating a healthy and balanced diet are general recommendations for good health, but they are also helpful in preventing psoriasis, since visceral fat tissue produces and releases pro-inflammatory molecules that contribute to the reactivation of psoriatic skin lesions.

For this reason, people with psoriasis are encouraged to reduce foods that contribute to fat accumulation. It is advisable to avoid foods high in refined sugars, saturated fats, and animal proteins.

Recommended foods include:

• sources of “high-quality” proteins (fish, white meats)
• foods high in fiber such as fruits and vegetables
• probiotics
• omega-3 fats (found in fish, certain nuts, soy and soy products)

For baked goods such as bread, it is better to choose products fresh from the bakery counter, not industrially packaged, and made with whole-grain flours.

It is important—indeed necessary—to drink plenty of water to counteract skin dryness. This also applies in winter, when long periods spent in heated, very dry indoor environments make artificial humidification advisable.

Lifestyle

Long walks, running, swimming, and all endurance-based aerobic sports are beneficial.
For pool swimming, it is important to keep the skin clean and well moisturized afterward using soothing and emollient creams, to avoid irritation from chlorine or other possible skin issues.

Another major aggravating factor for psoriasis is stress, which, through hormone-mediated mechanisms, acts on the molecular switches that activate and intensify pathogenic events—essentially triggering the disease.

Help from Cosmetics

As for treatments that can be used specifically to combat psoriasis, everything matters:

• phototherapy (sunlight or UVA exposure),
• mud therapy with Liman mud,
• balneotherapy in salsobromoiodic water, thanks to their antimicrobial properties and strong healing power,
• emollient creams and balms that aid healing.