Psoriasis

Psoriasis often appears as scales on the skin or raised, rough plaques, and is caused by your immune system providing faulty messaging to your skin. With psoriasis, the immune system instructs your skin cells to grow at a faster rate than they should; therefore, the shedding of old skin cells cannot keep up with the growth of new, causing the skin cells to pile on top of each other and appear as dry, red, flaky patches. The most common symptoms of psoriasis include itching, stinging, or burning of the plaques, which often appear on ears, eyelids, hands, feet, knees, elbows, scalp, belly button, and skin folds. Psoriasis can be genetic, but it is not contagious.